Persepolis

Fars · IRAN DIGITAL WALL

Look first at the people on the stairways: their clothing, the gifts they carry and the measured procession toward the court. These carved details make the many peoples of the Achaemenid Empire more immediate than a list of kings and dates. Darius I began the vast terrace around 518 BCE, and later rulers expanded its palaces. Moving between the Gate of All Nations, ceremonial halls and surviving columns reveals both the scale of royal ambition and the patient work of stone carvers. This UNESCO World Heritage site deserves time for the small details as well as the panorama.