“Our experts have made efforts to restore and protect the unique bas-relief over the years, and if you compare it with the photos taken of the monument in 1963, you will acknowledge that the monument is in better condition. But we have to transfer it to a museum to prevent the elements from having a bad effect on the monument,” Babak Kial added.
The Winged Man, considered to be Cyrus the Great by some archaeologists and historians, is a stone bas-relief of a standing man with four wings who is praying. He also wears a crown which has two horns on it. Some scholars say that that Cyrus the Great is Zulqarnain, whose story is told in the Holy Quran, because Zulqarnain means “one with two horns” in Arabic.
Last January, Kial had said that the bas-relief was seriously damaged by frost, humidity, lichen, and the growth of some types of fungus, adding that experts were looking for a way to prevent the destruction of the monument.
Unfortunately, environmental factors have caused some cracks on the bas-relief over the past few years.
Experts had previously proposed building a glass shelter like an aquarium for the Winged Man, but it was rejected because it was deemed inefficient.
“A glass shelter could protect it from rainfall, but it is not effective against frost and humidity,” Kial argued.
It is not clear which museum the bas-relief will be transferred to and how it will be done.
Pasargadae, the first dynastic capital of the Achaemenid Empire, was founded by Cyrus II, the Great, in Pars, homeland of the Persians, in the 6th century BC. Its palaces, gardens, and the mausoleum of Cyrus are outstanding examples of the first phase of royal Achaemenid art and architecture and exceptional testimonies of Persian civilization.
UNESCO registered Pasargadae on the World Heritage List in July, 2004.
MMS/HG
End
MNA
Your Comment