TEHRAN – A number of once relocated stone blocks have recently been brought back to the UNESCO-registered Pasargadae in southern Iran, the director of the World Heritage site said on Saturday.  

“A total of 58 stone blocks have recently been returned to Pasargadae after cultural heritage experts traced them being used in the construction of a nearby 100-year-old two-story building, named Saeidi Mansion,” Afshin Ebrahimi said on Saturday.

“The slabs were returned to the site after full cooperation from the Saeidi family,” he added.  

Most of the materials used at the Pasargadae are white, black, and sandstones that have been brought from the surrounding mountains and are used in the form of rectangular or cylindrical blocks in different parts of the site’s monuments, the official explained. 

Pasargadae lost its main function as a seat of government after the Achaemenid era (c. 550 – 330 BC) and slowly began to be destroyed, and it was then the blocks were removed and used in other places by the locals, the official added. 

The blocks have been used in surrounding areas and buildings including Atabaki Mosque, Mozaffari Caravanserai, and Saeidi Mansion, he noted. 

Situated about 50 km north of Persepolis, Pasargadae embraces outstanding examples of the first phase of royal Achaemenid art and architecture and exceptional testimonies of Persian civilization.

The complex was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2004.

ABU/AFM