Cultural Heritage of Fars: We Have Not Yet Decided on the Closure of Pasargadae

The director of public relations for the Cultural Heritage Organization of Fars Province denied the announcements published quoting this organization and the Fars governorate regarding the closure of the Pasargadae complex from November 5 to 8, coinciding with the day of Cyrus. Fatemeh Rezaei stated in an interview with ISNA on Tuesday, November 1, that the announcements published with the governorate's logo are 'incorrect' and 'invalid'. She also mentioned that the decision of the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization and the Fars governorate regarding the operation of the historical complex of Pasargadae and the tomb of Cyrus from November 5 to 8 'has not been determined' and 'it is better not to create distractions about this matter'. In recent days, announcements with the logos of the governorate and the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization of Fars Province have been widely circulated on social media. These announcements stated that 'due to the political and security abuses by anti-revolutionary groups, the tourist complex of Pasargadae will be closed from November 5 to 8. Additionally, the entry routes to this complex will be blocked by the road maintenance and police forces.' This issue has been widely reflected on social networks. In recent years, the presence of a number of Iranian citizens at ceremonies commemorating Cyrus, the first king of the Achaemenid Empire, has made headlines. Meanwhile, Bahram Parsai, a representative from Shiraz in the parliament, requested in a letter to the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance on October 19 to hold an official ceremony on the day of Cyrus. Last year, following a gathering of thousands to participate in the commemoration at Pasargadae, many attendees were arrested. According to some reports, a group of attendees at Pasargadae chanted slogans including 'Iran is our homeland, Cyrus is our father' and also slogans against the Islamic Republic government. After that, Ali Salehi, the public and revolutionary prosecutor of Fars Province, stated that this gathering was accompanied by 'norm-breaking' and that 'the main perpetrators of this norm-breaking have been arrested'. Ayatollah Hossein Noori Hamadani, a Shia cleric in Qom, also criticized the presence of thousands next to the tomb of Cyrus in Pasargadae, stating that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, referred to those 'remembering Cyrus' as 'anti-revolutionaries'. The number of attendees at the Cyrus Day gathering in Pasargadae was not specified, although Shahin Spenta, a cultural activist in Isfahan, stated in an interview with Radio Farda that unofficial estimates indicated about 15,000 to 20,000 people participated in the ceremony. Reports also indicated that other slogans chanted by the attendees that day included 'Happy Birthday, Prince', referring to November 9, the birthday of Prince Reza Pahlavi, the former crown prince of Iran. He also reacted to this slogan on his Facebook page, stating that it was 'the best birthday gift in recent years'.