“The platform was used by the ruler or owner of the palace,” team director Yusef Moradi said.
“The new excavations and studies on smashed ceilings have determined that the palace was destroyed as a result of an earthquake. Texts written by Iranian and Arab historians also mentioned a devastating quake which destroyed the palace,” he added.
Covering an area of 75,000 square meters, the palace was built by the Sassanid king Khosrow II for his Armenian Christian wife Shirin. Some Iranian and Arab geographers and historians of the early Islamic era called the palace one of the wonders of the world.
Archaeological studies are underway to determine the original appearance of Khosrow Palace.
“The documents and the texts have given a fairly exact understanding of the architecture of the palace. It had two sections, private and official, and studies have been carried out on the latter. The team will center on this section and the other section in the next phases of excavations,” Moradi said.
The team of archaeologists also recently discovered ruins of the ceremonial hall of the palace.
The region was excavated by French archeologist and prehistorian Jacques de Morgan in the late nineteenth century, British archaeologist and writer Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell in 1910 and 1911, and then by Oscar Reuter. Each one prepared architectural plans of the Khosrow Palace, but the Iranian team believes that none of the plans are reliable.
MMS/HG
END
MNA
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