One of the most beloved monuments...Pasargadae's most famous monument is the tomb of Cyrus the Great. The great king was buried here in after his death in the summer of 530.
His tomb located in Fars Province, lies 43 km from the ancient city of Persepolis and is one of Iran’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It is said to be the oldest base-isolated structure in the world. Despite having ruled over much of the ancient world, Cyrus the Great designed a tomb that depicts extreme simplicity and modesty when compared to those of other ancient kings and rulers.
The tomb is simple in form, constructed of large, carefully dressed ashlar blocks set with precision and secured by dovetail clamps. The gabled stone roof is hollow. Around the Tomb are a series of columns although the original structure which they supported is no longer present.
The design of Cyrus tomb is credited to Mesopotamian or Elamite ziggurats, but the inner chamber is usually attributed to Urartu tombs of an earlier period. The main decoration on the tomb is a rosette design over the door within the gable. In general, the art and architecture found at Pasargad exemplified the Persian synthesis of various traditions, drawing on precedents from Elam, Babylon, Assyria, and ancient Egypt, with the addition of some Anatolian influences.
Recent research on Pasargad’s structural engineering shows that Achaemenid engineers built the city to withstand a severe earthquake.
The tomb chamber itself is two meters wide, two meters high, and three meters deep. It once contained a gold sarcophagus, Cyrus' arms, his jewelry, and a cloak. This garment played an important role in the Persian inauguration rituals.
ome say that the body of Cyrus and his wife, the queen, were buried in the space between the room and the roof, which resulted in the very low ceiling of the space inside. The hallowed space was discovered by archeologists trying to remove a fig tree that grew on top of the mausoleum in 1959. The space was empty and the bodies and their belongings were robbed years ago.
What makes the tomb of Cyrus one of the most beloved monuments among Iranians is the brilliance and benelovence of his soul. His ethics established the grounds for having a universal Declaration of Human Rights because he found “his empire on generosity” instead of violence and dictatorship. Benjamin Franklin, Julius Caesar, Alexander, and much more great men in history have admired him and learned valuable lessons from him to put in use in the pursuit of their own aspiration.