Pavilion

Royal Paradise

For the ancient Persians, the symbol of eternal life was a tree with a stream at its roots. The sacred miracle tree contained the seeds of all within itself. The garden at Pasargadae appears to document the first known occurrence of the chahārbāḡ or the famous traditional Persian fourfold garden, a specific articulation of space that went on to become a characteristic mark of later garden design, not only in Iran but even far beyond the bounds of Western Asia. 

Evidence for part of the design of the royal garden was fortunately preserved in the form of a series of stone water channels (1300 m) and basins intended to add the visual charm occurring at 14 m intervals that defined the greater part of two adjoining rectangles in front of the main façade of Palace P.

The central location of the throne base in the “garden portico” or the long eastern side of Palace P suggests, moreover, that an opening ran down the center of the planted area, providing the king with an open landscape through the chief garden of his estate.  This arrangement effectively divided the garden into four quarters, possibly as a symbol of Cyrus’ title “King of the Four Quarters of the world” or likely to symbolize the four respected Zoroastrian elements of sky, earth, water, and plants.

Indeed, the fact that the royal garden remained in use throughout the Achaemenid period is best demonstrated by the discovery of a treasury of exquisite jewelry and other objects of precious metal that was hidden in a water jar beside one of the garden’s two pavilions during the last days of the empire.

The thickness of the deposit accumulation above the water channels and the basins that are seen today represents the amount and volume of the deposited layer that settled at the site during the last 2300 years ago.

It is necessary to mention that apart from the Pasargadae monuments, the Royal Garden of Pasargadae has separately been inscribed on the World Heritage list as the oldest remain of Persian Garden with eight others in 2011.

 

  • Royal Garden 1
  • Royal Garden 2

     

      

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