Golestan Palace is one of the oldest historical monuments in Tehran and considered a masterpiece of the Qajar era, which began in the late 1700s.
Today, its famous hall of mirrors is shattered, while there is extensive damage to mosaics, windows, arches and mouldings, according to video footage. It has been a Unesco world heritage site since 2013 and is one of the largest and most important monuments of Islamic architecture in Iran.
The nearby Grand Bazaar, an integral part of the capital’s historic and cultural fabric, has also sustained damage.
They are among several of the country’s most cherished cultural and historic jewels which have been badly damaged in US and Israeli air strikes since the war on Iran started a fortnight ago.
READ MORE
In interviews and social media posts, Iranians have asked why the war waged by the United States and Israel against their government has also targeted some of the oldest symbols of their civilisation.
“For me, ancient monuments are as important as human lives,” said Mojtaba Najafi, an Iranian scholar and researcher, in a social media post, “ ... they connect me to my past, and their destruction means my memory is being demolished.”
Before the war on Iran started, Unesco, the United Nations agency that seeks to protect global culture, says it provided combatants with the geographical co-ordinates of heritage sites ahead of time and called on all sides “to take all feasible precautions to avoid damage.”
The damaged sites are among nearly 30 Iranian sites requiring special protection since being placed on Unesco’s endangered world heritage list.
In the city of Isfahan, air strikes this week damaged several of Iran’s most cherished treasures. At the Chehel Sotoun palace and garden, known as “forty columns”, windows and mirror-work were shattered, walls cracked and the 17th-century central pavilion in the garden sustained significant damage from air strikes.
[ Did Trump misjudge Iran’s firepower?Opens in new window ]
The palace and garden were commissioned by Safavid rulers for entertainment and receptions.
The halls of the palace are renowned for exquisite murals painted in the Iranian miniature style by the Safavid-era artist Reza Abbasi. Four of the main frescoes, believed to have been painted around 1650, depict three royal entertainments and one battle scene.
Also in Isfahan, the Masjed-e Jāme, the country’s oldest Friday noon communal prayer mosque, sustained significant damage due to the collapse of ornate tiles in the arcades. The mosque is considered a gem of Islamic architecture.
Unesco has also verified damage at the Safavid-era fortress at the Khorramabad Valley of Lorestan province, located in the Zagros mountain range.
Bomb blasts took place at the valley’s caves and rock shelters which have hosted 60,000 years of human activity, from palaeolithic times to the bronze age.
Anger, meanwhile, is growing among many citizens, while local officials have criticised the attacks.
The governor of Isfahan, which many regard as the most magical city in Iran, described the attacks as “barbaric”.
“In the twenty-first century, with the most advanced weapons, they target the oldest symbols of civilisation,” Mehdi Jamalinejad said, in a social media post. “These bullets struck the heart of humanity’s collective memory. The world must not remain silent in the face of these crimes.”
