Largest Sassanid palace gloriously restored
Arts & Culture Desk
The largest Sassanid palace, which lay in ruins and was on the verge of destruction, has been protected by villagers and magnificently restored.
It was in 1979, shortly after the revolution, when some people came riding trucks to cart off the stones of the palace.
“In the wake of the revolution, palaces should be destroyed for the benefit of the people,” it was said, adding that they have the official permission to discard the stones of the palace. However, the local people of Atashkadeh village, led by A’zamollah Kazemi, surrounded them to prevent them from cutting off the stones of Ardeshir Babakan Palace.
Although a few stones have been carted off in all these years, during the last 100 years the local people have prevented the destruction of the palace.
Kazemi prevented the destruction of the palace under the pretext that they had worked there, and in case of the palace’s destruction, there would be no proof of their working to receive a salary.
After the defeat of Ardavan, the last Parthian king, Ardeshir Babakan, the founder of the Sassanid Empire, ordered the construction of this monument in the third century, about 1,800 years ago, in Firouzabad, Fars Province. The manor was built to host large gatherings and demonstrate the power and authority of Ardeshir. The mansion was built with stone and plaster, so strong that it still stands.
After fencing the site, one part of the eight-acre site was turned into a necropolis for a long while, though its inscription on UNESCO’s World Heritage Site in 2018 gradually led to the cessation of burying dead people there.
When Kazemi started his work, the palace lay partially in ruins. Having collaborated with experts from the University of Zurich and worked for the Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, along with the villagers, he unearthed the palace.
The palace is one of the first domed constructions in Iran. By all accounts, Muslims were inspired by Sassanid architecture and picked up the skills of dome construction. The architecture of many other Iranian domed monuments was modeled after the Palace of Ardeshir.
The technique of domed construction is completely dependent on the quality of the plastering mortar. As its hardening time is short, this method allows a domed construction without any center. Using the corner construction technique, the domes are located on four sides.
Dazzling the eyes of every visitor, the dome of the central hall of the palace has not collapsed for 1,800 years. Built without a cap (skylight), the dome is one of the architectural wonders of the Sassanid period. It was built on a squinch, and it is said that not even one stone has fallen from the vault of the central hall of the palace. A lot of skill has been used in its construction, and the stones are standing firmly, having used compressed plaster mortar.
Inside the palace, the halls are connected through corridors. The wall decorations in the side hall are also amazing; they remind the viewer of Persepolis. The Sassanids applied the architectural arts used in Persepolis to beautify the walls.
The restoration of the palace required a lot of skill and attention. In order to correctly guess the architectural style, the fallen stones were returned to their original place using plaster mortar reminiscent of the Sassanid period.
The palace was built next to a picturesque pond, on the bank of the western branch of Tangab River, which was fed by a spring. Nobody knows for sure whether the pond was built, or had already existed; however, since the pond was floored, it cannot be unrelated to the palace. The lake is located downstream the palace and, therefore, there is a relatively steep slope between the pond and the palace. To compensate for this slope, the Sassanids used a technique which was not very useful and indicates that the Sassanids had problems laying the foundations.
Archeologists believe that during the Sassanid period the pond was much deeper, so that it would cool the interior of the palace.
Nobody knows for sure how the palace was used. Some people argue that Ardeshir lived here, and some believe that it was only used for special ceremonies.
Archeologists are of the idea that since the king of the time settled outside the city, it is highly probable that Ardeshir himself had resided in the palace.
The restoration of Ardeshir Palace was completed after the Islamic Revolution. Nevertheless, for those who have worked on the palace, the restoration is not over; they are worried about the parts that still have some cracks and could collapse. The restoration of the palace has preoccupied the locals to the extent that they even dream about it.