2,500-year celebration of the Persian Empire - Wikipedia 2,500-year celebration of the Persian Empire From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia   (Redirected from 2,500 year celebration of the Persian Empire) Jump to navigation Jump to search 2,500-year celebration of the Persian Empire جشن‌های ۲۵۰۰ سالهٔ شاهنشاهی ایران The Cyrus Cylinder is in the centre of the emblem of the 2,500 Year Celebration Native name جشن‌های ۲۵۰۰ سالهٔ شاهنشاهی ایران Date 12–16 October 1971 (1971-10-12 – 1971-10-16) Location Iran Coordinates 29°55′58.7″N 52°53′11.9″E / 29.932972°N 52.886639°E / 29.932972; 52.886639Coordinates: 29°55′58.7″N 52°53′11.9″E / 29.932972°N 52.886639°E / 29.932972; 52.886639 The 2,500-year celebration of the Persian Empire (Persian: جشن‌های ۲۵۰۰ سالهٔ شاهنشاهی ایران‎), officially known as the 2,500th Year of the Foundation of the Imperial State of Iran (Persian: دوهزار و پانصدمین سال بنیانگذاری شاهنشاهی ایران‎), consisted of an elaborate set of festivities that took place on 12–16 October 1971 to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of the Imperial State of Iran and the Achaemenid Empire by Cyrus the Great.[1][2] The intent of the celebration was to demonstrate Iran's ancient civilization and history and to showcase its contemporary advances under His Imperial Majesty Mohammad Reza Shah, the last Shah of Iran.[3] Some later historians came to think that this excess contributed to events that resulted in the Iranian Revolution and eventual replacement of the Persian monarchy with an Islamic republic under the Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution, who was supported by a wide range of people, including various leftist and Islamist organizations,[4] and student movements. The event has been described as the most expensive party ever held.[5] Contents 1 Planning 2 Tent City of Persepolis 3 Festivities 4 Security 5 Criticism 6 List of guests 6.1 Royalty and viceroys 6.2 Presidents, Prime Ministers and others 7 Film 8 Today 9 See also 10 References 11 Further reading 12 External links Planning[edit] 2,500 year-celebration of the Persian Empire in Persepolis, October 1971. The planning for the party took a year, according to the 2016 BBC Storyville documentary, Decadence and Downfall: The Shah of Iran's Ultimate Party. The filmmakers interviewed people tasked by the Shah to organize the party. The Cyrus Cylinder served in the official logo as the symbol for the event. With the decision to hold the main event at the ancient city of Persepolis, near Shiraz, the local infrastructure had to be improved, including the Shiraz International Airport and a highway to Persepolis. While the press and supporting staff would be housed in Shiraz, the main festivities were planned for Persepolis. An elaborate tent city was planned to house attendees. The area around Persepolis was cleared of snakes and other vermin.[6] Trees and flowers were planted, and 50,000 song birds were imported from Europe.[3] Other events were scheduled for Pasargadae, the site of the Tomb of Cyrus, as well as Tehran. Tent City of Persepolis[edit] Tent City of Persepolis in 1971 The Tent City (also called Golden City) was planned by the Parisian interior-design firm of Maison Jansen on 160 acres (0.65 km2). They referred to the meeting between Francis I of France and Henry VIII of England at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520.[6] Fifty 'tents' (prefabricated luxury apartments with traditional Persian tent-cloth surrounds) were arranged in a star pattern around a central fountain. Numerous trees were planted around them in the desert, to recreate how ancient Persepolis would have looked. Each tent was provided with direct telephone and telex connections for attendees to their respective countries. The entire celebration was televised to the world by way of a satellite connection from the site. The large Tent of Honor was designed for the reception of the dignitaries. The Banqueting Hall was the largest structure and measured 68 by 24 meters. The tent site was surrounded by gardens of trees and other plants flown in from France and adjacent to the ruins of Persepolis. Catering services were provided by Maxim's de Paris, which closed its restaurant in Paris for almost two weeks to provide for the glittering celebrations. Legendary hotelier Max Blouet came out of retirement to supervise the banquet. Lanvin designed the uniforms of the Imperial Household. 250 red Mercedes-Benz 600 limousines were used to chauffeur guests from the airport and back. The dinnerware was created using Limoges porcelain and linen by Porthault. Tent in Persepolis in 1971. Festivities[edit] Tomb of Cyrus at Pasargadae, where the festivities started. Persian Immortals, as portrayed during the celebrations. The festivities were opened on 12 October 1971, when the Shah and the Shahbanu paid homage to Cyrus the Great at his mausoleum at Pasargadae. For the next two days, the Shah and his wife greeted arriving guests, often directly at Shiraz's airport. On 14 October, a grand gala dinner took place in the Banqueting Hall in celebration of the birthday of the Shahbanu. Sixty members of royal families and heads of state were assembled at the single large serpentine table in the Banqueting Hall. The official toast was raised with a Dom Perignon Rosé 1959. The food and the wine for the celebration were provided by the Parisian restaurant Maxim's.[7] Six hundred guests dined over five and a half hours thus making for the longest and most lavish official banquet in modern history as recorded in successive editions of the Guinness Book of World Records. A son et lumière show, the Polytope of Persepolis designed by Iannis Xenakis and accompanied by the specially-commissioned electronic music piece Persepolis[8] concluded the evening. The next day saw a parade of armies of different Iranian empires covering two and half millennia by 1,724 men of the Iranian armed forces, all in period costume. In the evening, a less formal "traditional Persian party" was held in the Banqueting Hall as the concluding event at Persepolis.[9] On the final day, the Shah inaugurated the Shahyad Tower (later renamed the Azadi Tower after the Iranian Revolution) in Tehran to commemorate the event. The tower was also home to the Museum of Persian History. In it was displayed the Cyrus Cylinder, which the Shah promoted as "the first human rights charter in history".[10][11] The cylinder was also the official symbol of the celebrations, and the Shah's first speech at Cyrus' tomb praised the freedom that it had proclaimed, two and a half millennia previously. The festivities were concluded with the Shah paying homage to his father, Reza Shah Pahlavi, at his mausoleum.[9] The event brought together the rulers of two of the three oldest extant monarchies, the Shah and Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia. Emperor Hirohito of Japan was represented by his youngest brother, Prince Mikasa. By the end of the decade, both the Ethiopian and Iranian monarchies had ceased to exist. Commemorative set of gold and silver coins for Iranian Empire; Minted in Canada Security[edit] Security was a major concern. Persepolis was a favoured site for the festivities as it was isolated and thus could be tightly guarded, a very important consideration when many of the world's leaders were gathered there. Iran's security services, SAVAK, captured and took into "preventive custody" anyone that it suspected of being a potential threat. Criticism[edit] Criticism was voiced in the Western press and by Muslim clerics such as Khomeini and his followers; Khomeini called it the "Devil's Festival".[6] The Ministry of the Court placed the cost at $17 million (at that time); Ansari, one of the organizers, puts it at $22 million (at that time).[6] The actual figure is difficult to calculate exactly and is a partisan issue. List of guests[edit] Commemorative silver coin from a set of 9 gold and silver coins, minted on the occasion of the celebrations Obverse of the Medal for the 2500 anniversary of the Persian Empire Reverse of the Medal for the 2500 anniversary of the Persian Empire 2,500 year celebration of the Persian Empire 2,500 year celebration of the Persian Empire Queen Elizabeth II had been advised not to attend, with security being an issue.[6] The Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Anne represented her instead.[12] Other major leaders who did not attend were Richard Nixon and Georges Pompidou. Nixon had initially planned to attend but later changed his mind and sent Spiro Agnew instead.[6] Some materials[13] say that the attendee of China was Guo Moruo; According to his daughter, Guo was originally planned to attend, but he fell ill on the way arriving and then-Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Zhang Tong attended instead.[14] Some of the guests who were invited include: Royalty and viceroys[edit] Title Guest Country Emperor Haile Selassie[12]  Ethiopia King Frederick IX  Denmark Queen Ingrid King Baudouin  Belgium Queen Fabiola King Hussein  Jordan Princess Muna King Mahendra  Nepal Queen Ratna King Olav V  Norway Emir Sheikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa  Bahrain Emir Sheikh Ahmad bin Ali Al Thani  Qatar Emir Sheikh Sabah III Al-Salim Al-Sabah  Kuwait King Konstantínos II  Greece Queen Anne-Marie Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said  Oman Musahiban Abdul Wali Khan  Afghanistan Princess Bilqis Begum King Moshoeshoe II  Lesotho Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tunku Abdul Halim  Malaysia Raja Permaisuri Agong Bahiyah Emir Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Abu Dhabi Prince Franz Josef II  Liechtenstein Princess Georgina Prince Rainier III  Monaco Princess Grace Grand Duke Jean  Luxembourg Grand Duchess Joséphine Charlotte Prince Bernhard  Netherlands Prince Philip  United Kingdom Princess Anne Prince Aga Khan IV Princess Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan Crown Prince Carl Gustaf  Sweden Prince Juan Carlos  Spain Princess Sofia Prince Victor Emmanuel  Italy Princess Marina Prince Takahito Mikasa  Japan Princess Yuriko Mikasa Prince Bhanubandhu Yugala  Thailand Prince Moulay Abdallah  Morocco Princess Lamia Governor General Roland Michener  Canada Governor-General Sir Paul Hasluck  Australia Presidents, Prime Ministers and others[edit] Title Guest Country President Josip Broz Tito  Yugoslavia First Lady Jovanka Broz Chairman of the Presidium Nikolai Podgorny  Soviet Union President Franz Jonas  Austria President Todor Zhivkov  Bulgaria President Emílio Garrastazu Médici  Brazil President Urho Kekkonen  Finland President Cevdet Sunay  Turkey President Pál Losonczi  Hungary President Suharto  Indonesia President Ludvík Svoboda  Czechoslovakia President Yahya Khan  Pakistan President Suleiman Franjieh  Lebanon President Jacobus Johannes Fouché  South Africa President Leopold Sedar Senghor  Senegal President V. V. Giri  India President Moktar Ould Daddah  Mauritania President Hubert Maga  Dahomey President (Conducător) Nicolae Ceauşescu  Romania[12] First Lady and Deputy Prime Minister Elena Ceaușescu President Mobutu Sese Seko  Zaire President Rudolf Gnägi   Switzerland Prime Minister Jacques Chaban-Delmas  France Prime Minister Kim Jong-pil  South Korea Prime Minister Emilio Colombo  Italy Prime Minister Prince Makhosini  Swaziland Deputy Chairman of the Council of State Mieczysław Klimaszewski  Poland Vice President Spiro Agnew  United States Vice Chairman of the National People's Congress Guo Moruo  China President of the Bundestag Kai-Uwe von Hassel  Germany Foreign Minister Rui Patrício  Portugal First Lady Imelda Marcos  Philippines Cardinal Maximilien de Fürstenberg   Holy See Film[edit] Iran's National Film Board produced a documentary of the celebrations, titled Forugh-e Javidan (Persian: فروغ جاویدان) in Persian and Flames of Persia in English. Farrokh Golestan directed, and Orson Welles who had said of the event "This was no party of the year, it was the celebration of 25 centuries!"[6] agreed to narrate the English text, written by Macdonald Hastings, in return for the Shah's brother-in-law funding Welles' own film, The Other Side of the Wind.[15][16] The film was aimed at a Western audience.[17] Despite a requirement to show the film in 60 cinemas in Tehran, its "overheated rhetoric" and popular resentment at the extravagance of the event meant it did poorly at the domestic box office.[18] Today[edit] Persepolis tent city ruins in 2007. Persepolis remains a major tourist attraction in Iran and apparently there are suggestions to rehabilitate the archeological site as it is a proclamation of Iranian history.[12] In 2005, it was visited by nearly 35,000 people during the Iranian new year holiday.[12] The tent city remained operating until 1979 for private and government rent, when it was looted after the Iranian Revolution and the departure of the Shah. The iron rods for the tents and roads built for the festival area still remain and are open to the public, but there are no markers making any reference to what they were originally for.[19] The dedicated Shahyad Tower remains as a major landmark in Tehran, although it was renamed Azadi Tower in 1979. See also[edit] Iranian Art Museum Garden References[edit] ^ Amuzegar, The Dynamics of the Iranian Revolution, (1991), pp. 4, 9–12 ^ Narrative of Awakening : A Look at Imam Khomeini's Ideal, Scientific and Political Biography from Birth to Ascension by Hamid Ansari, Institute for Compilation and Publication of the Works of Imam Khomeini, International Affairs Division, [no date], p. 163 ^ a b Nina Adler (14 February 2017). "Als der Schah zur größten Party auf Erden lud" (in German). Der Spiegel. Retrieved 14 February 2017. ^ Jubin M. GOODARZİ (8 February 2013). "Syria and Iran: Alliance Cooperation in a Changing Regional Environment" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2013. Retrieved 18 October 2014. ^ https://www.alimentarium.org/en/magazine/history/most-expensive-party-ever ^ a b c d e f g Kadivar C (25 January 2002). "We are awake. 2,500-year celebrations revisited". Archived from the original on 8 November 2002. Retrieved 23 October 2006. ^ Van Kemenade, Willem (November 2009). "Iran's relations with China and the West" (PDF). Clingendael. Retrieved 9 August 2013. ^ Karkowski, Z.; Harley, J.; Szymanksi, F.; Gable, B. (2002). "Liner Notes". Iannis Xenakis: Persepolis + Remixes. San Francisco: Asphodel LTD. ^ a b "The Persepolis Celebrations". Retrieved 23 October 2006. ^ British Museum explanatory notes, "Cyrus Cylinder": "For almost 100 years the cylinder was regarded as ancient Mesopotamian propaganda. This changed in 1971 when the Shah of Iran used it as a central image in his own propaganda celebrating 2500 years of Iranian monarchy. In Iran, the cylinder has appeared on coins, banknotes and stamps. Despite being a Babylonian document it has become part of Iran's cultural identity." ^ Neil MacGregor, "The whole world in our hands", in Art and Cultural Heritage: Law, Policy, and Practice, p. 383–4, ed. Barbara T. Hoffman. Cambridge University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-521-85764-3 ^ a b c d e Tait, Robert (22 September 2005). "Iran to rebuild spectacular tent city at Persepolis". The Guardian. Persepolis. Retrieved 8 August 2013. ^ [1], spelt as "Kuo Mo-jo" ^ 庶英, 郭 (24 August 2004). "忆父亲郭沫若". Guangming Online. ^ Naficy, Hamid (2003). "Iranian Cinema". In Oliver Leaman (ed.). Companion Encyclopedia of Middle Eastern and North African Film. Routledge. p. 140. ISBN 9781134662524. ^ Welles, Orson (1998). This is Orson Welles. Perseus Books Group. p. xxvii. ISBN 9780306808340. ^ Watson, James A.F. (March 2015). "Stop, look, and listen: orientalism, modernity, and the Shah's quest for the West's imagination" (PDF). The UBC Journal of Political Studies. Vancouver: Department of Political Science at the University of British Columbia. 17: 22–36: 26–28. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 February 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2016. ^ Naficy, Hamid (2011). A Social History of Iranian Cinema, Volume 2: The Industrializing Years, 1941–1978. Duke University Press. p. 139. ISBN 9780822347743. ^ Iran Daily (23 June 2007). "Team Named For Renovating Persepolis". Archived from the original on 2 July 2007. Retrieved 9 March 2008. Further reading[edit] Steele, Robert (2021). The Shah's Imperial Celebrations of 1971: Nationalism, Culture and Politics in Late Pahlavi Iran. London: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-8386-0417-2. External links[edit] 1971 Celebration of the Shah of Persia in Persepolis (ARTE Documentary Film) 2,500 year celebration of the Persian Empire on Facebook Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2500 year celebration of the Persian Empire. v t e Achaemenid Empire History Kingdom Family tree Timeline History of democracy Art Achaemenid Persian Lion Rhyton Achaemenid coinage Danake Persian daric Architecture Achaemenid architecture Persepolis Pasargadae Tomb of Cyrus Naqsh-e Rostam Ka'ba-ye Zartosht Mausoleum at Halicarnassus Tombs at Xanthos Harpy Tomb Nereid Monument Tomb of Payava Culture Persepolis Administrative Archives Old Persian cuneiform Old Persian Behistun Inscription Xerxes I's inscription at Van Ganjnameh Warfare Persian Revolt Battle of Hyrba Battle of the Persian Border Lydian-Persian Wars Battle of Pteria Battle of Thymbra Siege of Sardis (547 BC) Battle of Opis First conquest of Egypt Battle of Cunaxa Conquest of the Indus Valley Scythian campaign of Darius I Greco-Persian Wars Ionian Revolt Battle of Thermopylae Battle of Artemisium Battle of Salamis Battle of Plataea Battle of Mycale Battle of Marathon Delian League Battle of Lade Siege of Eretria Siege of Naxos (499 BC) Wars of the Delian League Battle of the Eurymedon Peloponnesian War Battle of Cyzicus Corinthian War Battle of Cnidus Great Satraps' Revolt Second conquest of Egypt Wars of Alexander the Great Battle of Gaugamela Battle of the Granicus Battle of the Persian Gate Battle of Issus Siege of Gaza Siege of Halicarnassus Siege of Miletus Siege of Perinthus Siege of Tyre (332 BC) Related Achaemenid dynasty Pharnacid dynasty Peace of Antalcidas Peace of Callias Kingdom of Pontus Mithridatic dynasty Kingdom of Cappadocia Ariarathid dynasty 2,500 year celebration of the Persian Empire Districts of the Empire Royal Road Xanthian Obelisk v t e Persepolis Palace Tachara Gate of All Nations Other sections Tomb of Artaxerxes III builders Darius the Great Xerxes I Artaxerxes I of Persia Researchers Heidemarie Koch Erich Schmidt (archaeologist) Alireza Shapour Shahbazi Related Tangeh Bolaghi 2,500 year celebration of the Persian Empire Sivand Dam Persepolis Administrative Archives Waterskin Achaemenid architecture Category:Persepolis Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2,500-year_celebration_of_the_Persian_Empire&oldid=1001194950" Categories: Events in Iran 1971 in Iran Historiography of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Achaemenid Empire Persepolis Pahlavi dynasty Diplomatic visits Hidden categories: CS1 German-language sources (de) Use dmy dates from June 2020 Coordinates on Wikidata Articles containing Persian-language text Commons category link from Wikidata Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Languages العربية Azərbaycanca Català Deutsch Ελληνικά Español فارسی Français 한국어 Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית Bahasa Melayu 日本語 Русский Suomi Тоҷикӣ Українська 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 18 January 2021, at 17:22 (UTC). 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