2500 anniversary of the Iranian monarchy
The 2500th anniversary of the Iranian monarchy ( Persian جشنهای ۲۵۰۰ سالۀ شاهنشاهی ایران) from October 12 to 16, 1971 consisted of a series of celebrations to commemorate the year of death of the founder of the Old Persian Empire, Cyrus II 2500 years ago. The aim of the propaganda event was to strengthen the international reputation and legitimation as Persian rulers by referring back to the first "Shah" and the history of Iran as well as a performance exhibition of the "successes" of the incumbent Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his father Reza Shah Pahlavi . The event later came under fire because of the allegedly enormous costs, but also because of the authoritarian Persian regime. Voices in the American press and the later revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini saw precisely this as the continuity of the Iranian monarchies.
planning
The proposal to celebrate this anniversary came from the writer and cultural scientist Schodschaeddin Schafa, Deputy Minister of the Court Ministry responsible for cultural affairs. As early as 1958, Schafa had expressed the idea of holding a celebration in 1961 that would represent the contribution of Iranian culture to the development of human civilization. Parallel to the celebrations, a scientific congress was to take place at the University of Shiraz on the state of the art in the field of Iranian Studies.
Iranian Studies
Scientific research into the intellectual and material cultural heritage of Iran, Iranian Studies , begins in Iran itself with the establishment of the University of Tehran by Reza Shah . At the beginning of the 20th century, the University of Tehran set up several chairs in Iranian Studies, which mainly concentrated on areas of ancient Iranian studies such as the linguistics and culture of ancient Iran, Persian literature, history and archeology. With Alireza Schapour Schahbazi , the University of Shiraz specializes in the archeology of the Achaemenid period . The most comprehensive encyclopedic dictionary of the Persian language to date , the dictionary Dehchodas - Loghat Nāmeh Dehchoda by the linguist Allameh Ali Akbar Dehchoda , which appeared in 15 volumes, also comes from this period. Within Europe, Germany contributed a lot to Iranian studies. The Georg-August-Universität Göttingen is one of the pioneers of the subject, in 2003 it celebrated the 100th anniversary of the department. In France, the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris specialized in this field, in England the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. Within the United States, Harvard University , Columbia University and Stanford University in particular contributed to the deepening of the subject. Research institutions for Iranian Studies can be found all over the world. In addition to the ones already mentioned, there are others in Calcutta ( Iran Society ), Bombay ( Mumbai ), Israel, Japan and other countries.
The planning committee
In order to work out the program for the scientific congress and the celebrations, a central planning committee with corresponding branches was set up at the European, American and Asian research centers for Iranian Studies. In August 1960, a first draft of the planned celebrations was drawn up, with a budget of $ 3.5 million. In addition to the Orientalist Congress, the following events were planned for the celebrations: an archaeological exhibition, an exhibition of all books about Cyrus and the Empire of Iran, an exhibition of all books relating to Iran, a book and art exhibition from the holdings of the imperial library, an exhibition of old and new folk art , an exhibition of old Iranian costumes. During the holidays, a statue of Cyrus was to be unveiled in a square in Shiraz . Furthermore, a triumphal gate was to be built between Persepolis and Pasargadae and preserved as a souvenir of the celebrations. A work on Cyrus and his methods of government should be published in German, English, French, Arabic, Italian, Turkish and Persian. Several short documentary films about Persepolis and Pasargadae were being prepared and a film about the life of Cyrus was about to be made. The books of historians such as Xenophon and Herodotus should be translated and republished.
Prime Minister Manutschehr Eghbal , with whom the project had been discussed, had to resign in August 1960, his successor Jafar Sharif-Emami had no time to prepare elections, and when Ali Amini became Prime Minister on May 6, 1961 , insufficient funds were available to fund such a project from the government budget. On the part of the court, court minister Hossein Ala was responsible for the project. It was agreed with the prime minister to postpone the project until funding was secured. Prime Minister Asadollah Alam then postponed the project to 1967. After Hossein Ala's death, Alam took over the court ministry and Amir Abbas Hoveyda became prime minister. The project was still at the planning status of 1961. The Iranian scholars working worldwide had complained to Schafa that the project had no support from the political leaders. The question arose to cancel the celebrations entirely. According to the present plans, celebrations were planned in Shiraz and Tehran. But in Shiraz there was insufficient accommodation for the state guests and the proposal by Amir Mottaqi, who was in charge of operational planning, to build a tent city for the guests in Persepolis was rejected by the Shah as "surrealistic" and "not feasible".
Despite all the controversial discussions, Mohammad Reza Shah decided in 1970 that the celebrations should take place. In order not to leave any further doubts, he immediately set the date, October 15, 1971 (23rd More). Shahbanu Farah Pahlavi took over the honorary chairmanship of the newly established planning commission. The commission was headed by Alam and met twice a week from now on. The project, which originally had a scientific focus, had become a national matter.
The tent city of Persepolis
Court Minister Alam continued to worry about the accommodation of the state guests. A hotel could not be built in Persepolis in the remaining time. So it was decided to set up prefabricated apartments near the ruins. The Maison Jansen from Paris, which specialized in interior decorations for festive rooms, and which had also redesigned the Oval Office of US President John F. Kennedy , was commissioned with the construction and furnishing of the apartments. A tent frame was erected over the apartments with the help of a pipe construction and covered with plastic tarpaulin. The tent city of Persepolis was born. Alam said: "We only imitate what our kings always did when they went on trips to inhospitable regions, and otherwise it also corresponds to the tradition of our nomads." Alam referred to Plutarch's biography of Alexander the Great . who after the battle of Issus in 333 BC The abandoned tent of Darius III. had entered. After seeing a gilded throne chair, a bathroom, the carpeted floor and the golden tableware there, he is said to have said, "That is truly called royal".
After the accommodation had been clarified, the question of food was raised. Alam was plagued by the idea that one of the state guests might get sick from the food. Accommodation in a tent is one thing. Preparing food for over 100 people "in the open" is something different. Alam spoke to the management of Maxim’s in Paris, who of course were happy to take over the catering for such a prominent celebration.
Schafa, who had discussed these changes in the fixed planning with the scientists who were preparing the Iranian Studies Congress, met with vehement rejection from his colleagues. It was considered completely absurd to celebrate 2500 years of Iranian culture in tents with a French decor and a celebratory meal with a French menu. Schafa raised the criticism in the planning committee. Alam threatened to resign as court minister. The question of the state guests fell into his area of responsibility and the scientists would have to stay out of it.
The invitations to the celebrations had been issued, and the originally planned 30 state guests had suddenly become 69. 50 tents had been ordered according to the original plans. 30 tents were provided for foreign state guests and 20 for the royal family and Iranian guests. The surprising promises exceeded all plans.
2500 schools
Abdorreza Ansari, a member of the planning committee, wanted the celebrations to be sustainable. For this reason he had the idea of a sponsorship program to build primary schools. The Ministry of Education had selected villages and towns where there was a need for schools, and it was announced via radio, television and the press that anyone could contribute to the construction of the schools by donating money or in kind. Should someone pay the entire cost of building a school, the school should bear their name.
The program was a complete success and instead of the planned 2500 schools, 3200 schools had been built by the beginning of the celebrations. Each school was assigned a teacher from the education corps established as part of the White Revolution so that classes could begin immediately.
The Iranian calendar
Two months before the celebrations, Alam suggested to the planning commission that the year count of the Iranian calendar should also be changed as part of the 2500 year celebration. This proposal had already been made in 1967 by Mohammad Farahmand, then Minister of the Interior Ansari. Farahmand argued that the Iranian calendar, used since Reza Shah , had nothing to do with the Arabic counting of the year, and that the best date for the beginning of the year counting of an Iranian calendar would be Cyrus I's accession to the throne . Prime Minister Hoveyda rejected the proposal that Iran already had enough problems. But the planning commission found that the Iranians should finally be given “their calendar” and accepted the proposal.
The Shahyad Aryamehr Complex
In addition to the construction work in Shiraz to improve the local infrastructure (hotels, airports, roads, clinics, telecommunications network), the Shahyad Aryamehr complex was built in Tehran for the celebrations . The complex consists of an accessible tower with a viewing platform, an underground museum and an auditorium in which a multi-vision performance was shown. The version originally produced for 1971 was replaced by a more complex production in 1975, consisting of 12,000 meters of film and 20,000 slides, which were presented with the help of 20 film projectors and 120 slide projectors. The complex was built on an area of 50,000 m² in western Tehran, embedded in a garden with a fountain.
Aryamehr Stadium
The Aryamehr Stadium (today: Azadi Stadium) planned by the architect Abdol Aziz Farmanfarmaian and opened three years after construction began on October 18, 1971 with a closing event for the 2500th anniversary of the Iranian monarchy. The stadium offered 100,000 spectators. In addition to the Asian Games in 1974 and the AFC Asian Cup in 1976 , the stadium was also to become the central sports venue for the 1984 Summer Olympics . However, the application was withdrawn due to civil unrest in 1977, which is why Los Angeles was the only applicant to get the games.
financing
While the Iranian government put the cost at $ 16.8 million, foreign estimates range from $ 100 million to $ 300 million, although there is no evidence for these figures in Western media to support the difference from official figures. The costs for the accommodation and boarding of the foreign state guests were paid from the budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while the expenses for the construction and infrastructure measures came from the relevant departments. The rest was financed through the sale of commemorative coins, donations and sponsorship.
Safety precautions
In the run-up to the celebrations, extensive measures were taken to ensure the safety of state guests. The People's Mojahedin , who attempted to kidnap the US ambassador to Iran in 1970 and who had already carried out several assassinations, threatened an attack during the celebrations. For this reason, according to General Nasiri, the SAVAK arrested 1,500 people “as a precaution” in the run-up to the celebrations, all of whom were allegedly released after the celebrations.
The festivities
The celebrations began at the University of Shiraz with a congress on the history of Iran. 250 scientists had come to Shiraz to take part in the conference chaired by the Chancellor of Farhang Mehr University. Meanwhile the state guests arrived at the airport in Shiraz , were greeted there by the Shah, and then driven to the tent city in Persepolis. The accommodation in the tent city turned out to be an initial success. The guests visited each other in the tents and seemed to enjoy the unusual ambience. The celebrations in Persepolis were planned for three days.
The state guests
Elizabeth II canceled for security reasons, and Prince Philip and Princess Anne attended in her place . Other Western heads of state who also canceled their participation were Richard Nixon , Georges Pompidou and Gustav Heinemann . Nixon originally wanted to travel to Iran, but then sent Vice President Spiro Agnew . Federal President Heinemann had initially agreed, but then had to cancel for health reasons. Heinemann's participation had led to discussions among the West German public.
The following state guests took part in the celebrations:
Monarchs or their deputies
Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia , King Friedrich IX. of Denmark with his wife Ingrid of Sweden , Baudouin I. King of the Belgians with his wife Queen Fabiola de Mora y Aragón , King Hussein of Jordan with his wife Princess Muna of Jordan , King Mahendra of Nepal and the Queen Mother Ratna, King Olav V. of Norway , Emir of Bahrain Isa ibn Salman Al Chalifa , King Constantine II of Greece with his wife Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark , Sultan Qabus ibn Said of Oman , Crown Prince Ahmad Shah Khan and his sister Princess Bilqis Begum of Afghanistan , King Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho , Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Abdul Halim of Malaysia , Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan ( United Arab Emirates ), Prince Franz Josef II of Liechtenstein with his wife Georgina von Wilczek , Prince Rainier III. of Monaco and his wife Princess Gracia Patricia , Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg with his wife Joséphine Charlotte of Belgium , Prince of the Netherlands Bernhard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld , Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh , and Princess Anne ( United Kingdom ), Begum Salimah Aga Khan, Wife of Karim Aga Khan IV , Crown Prince Karl Gustav of Sweden , Prince Juan Carlos of Spain with his wife Princess Sophia of Greece , Prince Mikasa Takahito and his wife Princess Yurika from Japan , the former Prime Minister Moulay Abdallah Ibrahim with his wife Lamia as representatives of Hassan II of Morocco , Prime Minister Prince Makhosini Dlamini of Swaziland , Governor General of Canada Roland Michener , Governor General of Australia Sir Paul Hasluck .
Presidents, Prime Ministers and Chancellors or their deputies
President of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito , president of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Nikolai Podgorny , President of Austria Franz Jonas , president of Bulgaria Todor Zhivkov , President of Brazil Emílio Garrastazu Médici , President of Finland Urho Kekkonen , President of Turkey Cevdet Sunay , President of Hungary Pál Losonczi , President of Czechoslovakia Ludvik Svoboda , President of Pakistan Yahya Khan , President of Lebanon Suleiman Frangieh , President of South Africa Jacobus Johannes Fouché , President of Senegal Leopold Sedar Senghor , President of India V. V. Giri , President of Mauritania Moktar Ould Daddah , President of Dahomey Hubert Maga , President of Romania Nicolae Ceauşescu and his wife Elena Ceauşescu , President of Zaire Mobutu Sese Seko , Vice President of the People's Republic of Poland Mieczysław Klimaszewski , President of the Bundestag of the Federal Republic of Germany Kai-Uwe von Hassel , Prime Minister of France Jacques Chaban-Delmas , Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea Kim Jong-pil , Prime Minister of Italy Emilio Colombo , Vice-President of the United States of America Spiro Agnew , Foreign Minister of Portugal Rui Patrício , Federal President of Switzerland Rudolf Gnägi , First Lady of the Philippines Imelda Marcos , Vice President of the People's Republic of China Guo Moruo , special envoy of Pope Cardinal Maximilien de Fürstenberg .
Pasargadae
The official start of the celebrations was set for October 12, 1971 at 12 noon in Pasargadae with a short address by Mohammad Reza Shah at the tomb of Cyrus II , about 130 km northeast of Shiraz and about 80 km from Persepolis. The address was broadcast live on television and ended with the words
“Oh Cyrus, great king, king of kings, king of the Achaemenids, king of the land of Iran. I, the Shahinschah of Iran, offer you greetings from me and from my nation. Rest in peace, for we keep watch and we will always keep watch. "
International Congress of Iranian Studies
On October 13, 1971, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi opened the second International Congress of Iranian Studies at the University of Shiraz. 500 Iranists took part in the congress. The lectures and presentations were published in 1974 in the "Acta Iranica" series founded by Jacques Duchesne-Guillemin .
Fighting had broken out behind the scenes between the members of the delegations who were staying in a hotel in Shiraz and who would like to be moved to one of the tents should a tent become vacant due to the early departure of a guest. On the evening of October 14th, more than 600 state guests were invited to a banquet . The day of the state reception in honor of 2,500 years of the Iranian monarchy coincided with the birthday of Shahbanu Farah Pahlavi.
Historical parade
The historical pageant took place in the late afternoon of October 15th. It was drafted by General Fathollah Minbaschian and Minister of Culture Mehrdad Pahlbod. The pageant was also broadcast live on television. After sunset, a thirty minute began Son et Lumiere - light installation in the ruins of Persepolis, by André Castelot had been designed. Fireworks rounded off the evening performance.
For the evening the Shah invited guests to a Persian buffet with saffron rice, Khoresh-e Fessendschān , Judsche Kabāb and Chelo Kabab .
Festivities in Tehran
Most of the state guests left Persepolis the following morning to attend the further festivities in Tehran. After a visit to the mausoleum of Reza Shah, the Shahyad complex was opened to the public. In memory of the festivities, the mayor presented the Shah with a copy of the Cyrus cylinder .
Everyone responsible for the celebrations was enthusiastic about the successful event. The Shah gave promotions, gifts and medals .
Reactions
During the festivities, the western press reported extensively about the great event. But after a few days the tide turned. It all started with Khomeini's critical remarks . He described the celebration as anti-Islamic and declared the participants in this celebration to be enemies of Islam. The Shah's criminal system had robbed the Iranian people to finance their decadent debauchery. “The world should know that this festival has nothing to do with Iran and that those who participated in this festival have betrayed Islam and the Iranian people. “The fact that the Shah had a mosque built in Qom in honor of the late Ayatollah Borudscherdi for 1.6 million dollars as part of the 2500-year celebration was not worth mentioning for Khomeini.
In TIME Magazine , the cost of the celebrations were given as $ 100 million. The French press has already talked about $ 200 million. In the end, the costs are said to have been around $ 300 million, with reports mainly on the tent city and the food served by Maxim's. William Shawcross wrote in The Shahs Last Ride 1988 of a “party” that resembled a large-scale production by Cecil B. DeMille in Technicolor : “Hairdressers were flown in by Alexandre and Carita from Paris, Elizabeth Arden had a make-up called Farah created, Baccarat designed the table decorations and Maxim's prepared and served the food. ” There was apparently nothing more significant to report about the 2500 year celebration.
In its criticism, the left opposition movement described the celebrations as a political diversionary maneuver. In the end, the opposition movement achieved a historic success in the struggle for public opinion in Western countries. Manuchehr Hezarkhani, a former leader of the Confederation of Iranian Students , the student opposition abroad, wrote:
“The Shah regime has spent vast amounts of money on festivities to attract world leaders to Iran. In truth, the propaganda battle the Confederation had started against the regime had one of its best moments. In most countries, the Confederation began to alert politicians and the interested public to the Shah's crimes, Iran's poverty, the wide economic divide between classes and the regime's militarism. Through intensive contact with European and American politicians and through a close exchange of information with writers, artists and politically interested people, it was possible to damage the regime and expose the festivities as a propaganda circus. "
Abdolreza Ansari, who was responsible for the technical organization of the celebrations, assessed the events of Persepolis in an interview conducted in 2002 as follows:
“In the 1950s, Iran was viewed by the international community as an underdeveloped country. In the sixties we had become a developing country. In the 1970s, many state guests who had come to Persepolis saw Iran as a country with a rich history, on the way to becoming a fully developed industrial state. Many critics had forgotten that the Persepolis celebrations were just the festive part of a development program. For the Shah, Persepolis offered the opportunity to show the world that Iran had grown in political importance. The many sustainable investments in the country's infrastructure that were made in preparation for the festivities, such as schools, roads, telecommunications networks, airports, television broadcasting facilities, hotels and tourist resorts, were not worth a single word to the critics. "
After the Islamic Revolution
Persepolis is still one of the main tourist attractions of Iran today. The tent city was completely intact until 1978 and was used for occasional receptions. The plans to turn the tent city into a luxury hotel could not be realized, however, because the appropriate infrastructure in the vicinity of the ruins of Persepolis was lacking and a separate water and electricity supply would have been too expensive. There were also questions of archaeological monument protection. The apartments were looted during the Islamic Revolution . In 1982 the supply buildings of the former tent city and the tent city itself became a military camp. The tents became dormitories for soldiers of the Iran-Iraq war . The bulletproof windows of the reception tent were used for target practice. After the war, the tent city was left to its own devices. Today only the frames of the tent cover are left.
The Shahyad Aryamehr complex in Tehran is only partially accessible. After it proved hopeless to demolish the tower, it was renamed Azadi Tower (Freedom Tower). The complex's parks have been redesigned and reduced in size.
Reza Shah's mausoleum was demolished.
Persepolis 2530
In June 2007, the reconstruction of a guest tent in its current condition as a steel-wood frame with hanging remnants of tent sheets was exhibited at the 38th Art Basel art fair . It was a joint project by Michael Stevenson in collaboration with the Arnolfini Art Center, Bristol, and the Vilma Gold Gallery, London. The exhibition of the guest tent was repeated in Bristol in March 2008 under the title "Michael Stevenson: Persepolis 2530".
Quotes
- Orson Welles : "This wasn't the party of the year, it was the celebration of 25 centuries."
- Ruhollah Khomeini : "Festival of the Devil."
Documentaries
- The Flames of Persia. Director: Shahrokh Gholestan, narrator: Orson Welles . 1971 (English)
- Celebrations of the Shah of Persia in Persepolis. Lost film treasures (season 2; episode 9), Arte, German first broadcast: August 20, 2011 ( online on YouTube )
- The biggest party on earth. Spiegel Geschichte , German first broadcast: March 29, 2017
literature
- Talinn Grigor: Preserving the Antique Modern: Persepolis '71 . In: Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (Ed.): Future Anterior . tape 2 , no. 2 . Columbia University Press, 2005, ISSN 1549-9715 , pp. 22nd ff . ( arch.columbia.edu ( Memento from June 10, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) [PDF; 1.9 MB ; accessed on October 14, 2011]).
- Wilhelm Eilers (Hrsg.): German Iranists to celebrate the 2500 anniversary of Iran. Stuttgart 1971. (Festschrift)
Web links
- Nina Adler When the Shah invited to the biggest party on earth . In: Spiegel Online , February 14, 2017
- Cyrus Kadivar: We are awake - 2,500 years celebrations revisited ( Memento from February 13, 2018 in the Internet Archive ). In: Iranian.com, January 25, 2002 (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Kevin C. MacDonald, Frank YC Hung, Harrlet Crawford: Prehistory as propaganda . In: UCL Institute of Archeology (Ed.): Papers from the Institute of Archeology (PIA) . Vol 6, 1995, ISSN 2041-9015 , pp. 2 , doi : 10.5334 / 111 ( online [accessed October 12, 2011]).
- ^ William A. Dorman, Mansour Farhang: The US Press and Iran . Foreign Policy and the Journalism of Deference. University of California Press, Berkeley 1988, ISBN 0-520-06472-0 , pp. 118 .
- ↑ Dorman Farhang p. 120.
- ↑ "The crimes committed by Iranian kings have blackened the pages of the history books." Quoted from Matthias Schulz: The false prince of peace . In: Der Spiegel 28/2008 of July 7, 2008, p. 126 ( online ).
- ↑ Gholam Reza Afkhami: The life and the times of the Shah. University of California Press, 2009, p. 404.
- ↑ Ali Asghar Azizi: Celebration for the 2,500. Anniversary of the founding of the Empire of Iran. In: Communications from the Institute for Foreign Relations, Iran number H 3/4 July-December 1960, pp. 176–179.
- ↑ Gholam Reza Afkhami: The life and the times of the Shah. University of California Press, 2009, p. 405.
- ↑ Gholam Reza Afkhami: The life and the times of the Shah. University of California Press, 2009, p. 657.
- ↑ Gholam Reza Afkhami: The life and the times of the Shah. University of California Press, 2009, p. 408.
- ↑ Gholam Reza Afkhami: The life and the times of the Shah. University of California Press, 2009, p. 411.
- ^ Suzanne Maloney: Identity and Change in Iran's Foreign Policy . In: Shibley Telhami, Michael N. Barnett (Eds.): Identity and foreign policy in the Middle East . Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY 2002, ISBN 0-8014-3940-X , pp. 88 ff., 97 .
- ↑ a b c iranian.com
- ↑ a b Quiet prescribed. In: Der Spiegel. 4th October 1971.
- ↑ Bibliotheque Pahlavi (Ed.): Acta Iranica. Premiere Series Commémoration Cyrus. Tehran-Liège 1974.
- ↑ Sahifeh Nur: Majmueh rahnemud hay-e Imam (Book of Light: Collections of the Imam's Sayings. Tehran: Ministry of Culture and Islamic Leadership, 1980). 1: 158. Quoted from Gholam Reza Afkhami: The life and time of the Shah. University of California Press, 2009, p. 412.
- ↑ Hamid Shokat (ed.): Negahi az darun be jonbesh-e chap-e Iran: Goftegu ba Mehdi Khanbaba Tehrani (Iran's Left, a Look from Within: Conversation with Mehdi Khanbaba Tehrani). Paris 1990, p. 332. Quoted from: Gholam Reza Afkhami: The life and the times of the Shah. University of California Press, 2009, p. 413.
- ↑ Michael Stevenson: Celebration at Persepolis. Zurich, 2008, p. 29.
- ↑ Michael Stevenson: Celebration at Persepolis. Zurich, 2008.
- ↑ Persepolis 2530
- ↑ The Flames of Persia. In: themoviedb.org. Retrieved November 3, 2018 .
- ↑ Lost film treasures - 1971. The celebrations of the Shah of Persia in Persepolis ( Memento of June 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) on arte.tv
- ↑ The biggest party on earth. In: Wishlist.de. Retrieved November 6, 2018 .