 TheCyrus Cylinder, which was framed by the Iranian kingMohammad Reza Pahlavi as the event's official logo, owing to his claim that it was the "first charter of human rights" in history. | |
  Persepolis Location ofPersepolis, which was the ceremonial capital city of theAchaemenid Empire, and which therefore served as the event's primary venue. | |
| Native name | جشنهای ۲۵۰۰ ساله شاهنشاهی ایران |
|---|---|
| Date | 12–16 October 1971 (1971-10-12 –1971-10-16) |
| Location |  Imperial State of Iran |
| Coordinates | 29°56′04″N52°53′29″E / 29.93444°N 52.89139°E /29.93444; 52.89139 |
| Also known as | 2,500-year celebration of the Persian Empire |
| Motive | Honouring the legacy ofancient Iran under theAchaemenid dynasty and showcasing the progress ofmodern Iran under thePahlavi dynasty |
The2,500-year celebration of the Persian Empire,[1] officially known as the2,500-year celebration of the Empire of Iran (Persian:جشنهای ۲۵۰۰ ساله شاهنشاهی ایران,romanized: Jašn-hây-e 2500 sale’ šâhanšâhi Irân), was hosted by thePahlavi dynasty in theImperial State of Iran in October 1971. Concentrated atPersepolis, it consisted of an elaborate set of grand festivities that sought to honour the legacy of theAchaemenid Empire, which was founded byCyrus the Great in 550 BC.[2][3] The event was aimed at highlightingancient Iranian history and also showcasing the country's contemporary advances underMohammad Reza Pahlavi, who had been reigning as theShah of Iran since 1941.[4][5] The site brought sixty members of royalty and heads of state from abroad.[6]
Some historians take the view that its role in massive display of seemingly unlimited royal wealth contributed to the Iranian populace's growing frustration with the Pahlavi dynasty, while others argue that the extravagance of the proceedings was exaggerated during theIslamic Revolution to discredit the Shah's regime.[5] As a result, some accounts have overstated the event's costs and luxuries.
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The planning for the party took a year, according to the 2016 BBCStoryville documentaryDecadence and Downfall: The Shah of Iran's Ultimate Party. The filmmakers interviewed people tasked by the Shah to organize the party.Asadollah Alam, minister of the Royal Court, was named to head the organizing committee. TheCyrus Cylinder appeared in the official logo as the symbol for the event. With the decision to hold the main event at the ancient city ofPersepolis, nearShiraz, the local infrastructure had to be improved, including theShiraz 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 ofsnakes and other vermin.[7] Trees and flowers were planted, and 50,000 song birds were imported from Europe.[4] Other events were scheduled forPasargadae, the site of theTomb of Cyrus, as well asTehran.
The Tent City (also called Golden City) was planned by theParisian interior-design firm ofMaison Jansen on 160 acres (0.65 km2). They referred to the meeting betweenFrancis I of France andHenry VIII of England at theField of the Cloth of Gold in 1520.[7] Fifty 'tents' (prefabricated luxuryapartments 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 andtelex 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 metres (223 ft × 79 ft). 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 byMaxim's de Paris,[8] 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 redMercedes-Benz 600limousines were used to chauffeur guests from the airport and back. The dinnerware was created usingLimoges porcelain and linen byD. Porthault.
The festivities were opened on 12 October 1971, when the Shah and theShahbanu paid homage to Cyrus the Great at hismausoleum 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. They dined off a special dinner service of 10,000 plates commissioned from the English china manufacturer Spode, each plate decorated in turquoise and gold, with the Shah's coat of arms. The official toast was raised with a Dom Perignon Rosé 1959.
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 theGuinness Book of World Records. Ason et lumière show, thePolytope of Persepolis designed byIannis Xenakis and accompanied by the specially-commissioned electronic music piecePersepolis,[9] concluded the evening. The next day saw a hugemilitary parade of armies of different Iranian empires covering two and half millennia by 1,724 soldiers of the Iranian armed forces, all in period costume, followed by representatives of the Imperial Armed Forces, with a largemilitary band, composed of military musicians and providing the music for the parade, split into two—the modern band playing in Western instruments and a traditional band wearing uniforms from different eras of Iranian history. In the evening, a less formal "traditional Persian party" was held in the Banqueting Hall as the concluding event at Persepolis.[10]
On the final day, the Shah inaugurated theShahyad Tower (later renamed theAzadi Tower after theIranian Revolution) inTehran to commemorate the event. The tower was also home to the Museum of Persian History. In it was displayed theCyrus Cylinder, which the Shah promoted as "the firsthuman rights charter in history".[11][12] 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, athis mausoleum.[10]
The event brought together the rulers of two of the three oldest extant monarchies, the Shah and EmperorHaile Selassie I ofEthiopia. EmperorHirohito ofJapan was represented by his youngest brother,Prince Mikasa. By the end of the decade, both the Ethiopian and Iranian monarchies had ceased to exist.
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.
The Ministry of the Court placed the cost atUS$17 million (at that time); Ansari, one of the organizers, puts it at US$22 million (at that time).[7] The actual figure is difficult to calculate exactly and is a partisan issue.The New York Times reported several months before the event, "The enormous expense of the celebration is hardly likely to strain the treasury, which is enriched by oil and many other resources. But there is muted criticism here of such conspicuous expenditure in the face of widespread poverty and back wardness [sic] in this largely rural country of almost 30 million people."[13]
According to the BBC documentaryDecadence and Downfall, the celebrations cost about 120 million United States dollars. However, this claim has been described as having no real basis. In addition, the documentary claims the approximately 50,000 birds the Shah imported died within a few days due to the desert climate. Historian Robert Steele has described this claim as infeasible, arguing that the October climate inPersepolis is more mild than reported and so the birds would have been accustomed to the local weather.[14] Many accounts from journalists and historians exaggerate cost estimates and claim the regime wanted to spend whatever was necessary. However, the Shah only approved the celebration plans after the scope was reduced to one-quarter of the original plan in order to reduce costs.[15] The celebrations were visualized by the Pahlavi government as an investment to stimulate the Iranian economy by promoting Iran around the world, drawing attention to its rich culture and civilization; as a result of the celebrations and the infrastructure built to support them, the Iranian tourism industry went from generating just $45 million in 1971 to $152 million by 1976.[16]
Queen Elizabeth II had been advised not to attend, with security being an issue.[7] TheDuke of Edinburgh andPrincess Anne represented her instead.[17] Other major leaders who did not attend wereRichard Nixon andGeorges Pompidou. Nixon had initially planned to attend but later changed his mind and sentSpiro Agnew instead.[7]
Some materials[18] say that the attendee on China’s behalf wasGuo Moruo. According to his daughter, Guo was originally planned to attend, but he fell ill in transit and then-Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Zhang Tong attended instead.[19]
Some of the guests who were invited include:
Iran's National Film Board produced a documentary of the celebrations, titledForugh-e Javidan (فروغ جاویدان,lit. 'Eternal Light') inPersian andFlames of Persia in English. Farrokh Golestan directed, andOrson Welles, who had said of the event "This was no party of the year, it was the celebration of 25 centuries!",[7] agreed to narrate the English text, written byMacdonald Hastings, in return for the Shah's brother-in-law funding Welles's own film,The Other Side of the Wind (which eventually went intodevelopment hell but was eventually posthumously released byNetflix in 2018).[20][21] The film was aimed at a Western audience.[22] 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.[23]
In theReview of Middle East Studies in 1980, Ellen-Fairbanks Bodman referred to "aCecil B. DeMille-type parade — a sequence of Iranian dynasties and peoples in orderly array: no conquests, no struggles, no internal conflicts, noArabs, noMongols." She also notes only a single reference toIslam and that "the Shah waves to happy peasantry and smiles at the idyllicbucolic revelries of his admiring people. Only twochadors are in fleeting evidence among the crowds, and the camera prefers girls dancing in tight corduroy pants. Attention is paid to modern housing developments and technology, none toland reform oragriculture."[24]
Persepolis remains a major tourist attraction in Iran. In 2005, reports suggested that the Islamic Republic of Iran intended to reconstruct the tent city created for the 1971 celebration.[17] In 2005, it was visited by nearly 35,000 people during theNowruz holiday.[17]
The tent city continued operating for private and government rent until 1979, when it was looted in the aftermath of theIranian 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 indicating what they were originally for.[25] The dedicated Shahyad Tower remains as a major landmark inTehran, although it was renamedAzadi Tower in 1979.
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