TEHRAN – Participants in a Paris-Persepolis eco-rally have entered the Iranian soil on their itinerary towards what was once the capital of Achaemenid Persia. 

The rally drivers crossed into West Azarbaijan province, northwest Iran, on Friday, ISNA reported on Sunday. 

With sixteen motorcycles and three cars, twenty people from France, Switzerland, and the Netherlands started the rally tour from Paris. 

Organized in collaboration with the Touring & Automobile Club of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the event aims to counter Iranophobia and introduce Iran’s culture, civilization, monuments, and historical and tourist attractions. 

Participants are scheduled to traverse Iranian soil in a 21-day itinerary that would culminate in the UNESCO-registered Persepolis. 

They will stay in Shiraz for four days, and after visiting historical sites and tourist attractions of the city, on their way back, they will travel along with Isfahan, Markazi, Qazvin, and Gilan provinces before they leave for France. 

Available data suggest that the same eco rally was held in 1971. The 6,000-km route of the rally runs through Europe, Turkey, and Iran. It is divided into 11 intervals and ends in Persepolis. 

Persepolis, also known as Takht-e Jamshid, whose magnificent ruins rest at the foot of Kuh-e Rahmat (Mountain of Mercy), was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire. It is situated 60 kilometers northeast of the city of Shiraz in Fars province.

The royal city of Persepolis, which ranks among the archaeological sites which have no equivalent, considering its unique architecture, urban planning, construction technology, and art, was burnt by Alexander the Great in 330 BC apparently as revenge against the Persians because it seems the Persian King Xerxes had burnt the Greek City of Athens around 150 years earlier.

The city’s immense terrace was begun about 518 BC by Darius the Great, the Achaemenid Empire’s king. On this terrace, successive kings erected a series of architecturally stunning palatial buildings, among them the massive Apadana palace and the Throne Hall (“Hundred-Column Hall”).

This 13-ha ensemble of majestic approaches, monumental stairways, throne rooms (Apadana), reception rooms, and dependencies is classified among the world’s greatest archaeological sites.

ABU/AFM