After more than 10 seasons of archeological excavations, the joint Iran/Italy team succeeded to dig the entire gate that Cyrus the Great had ordered to be built.
According to Asr Iran, before excavations began, Tal Ajori (heap of bricks) had hidden a treasure of Iranian architecture. After several seasons of explorations on this hill, archeologists were finally able to make a discovery that changed much of the archeological research near Takht-e Jamshid and the past of Parse city.
What was found in Tal Ajori also changed the history of archeology of the Achaemenid period. Finding a gate similar to the “Ishtar” gate in Babylon showed that after conquering Babylon, Achaemenid “Cyrus” asked the architects there to build a similar gate in a place that is less than three kilometers away from Persepolis today. Archaeologists believe that although this gate was made for a palace called Firouzi, it was a gate for the city of Parse before Darius even thought of building Persepolis.
With more than ten seasons of archeological exploration, the collaborative group of Iran and Italy managed to dig out the entire gate, and tourists could see the gate Cyrus the Achaemenid ordered to be built, and his son, Cambyses, completed it. On the walls of this gate, there were images of legendary creatures, one of the most important of which, called Mushkhushshu, was removed from the art of Achaemenid architecture in later periods.
Archaeological excavations in this area are one of the best in Iran. For the first time, an ancient site has been explored, recorded, excavated and documented, and finally reached the stage of tourism.
