Pasargadae, Shiraz

it's the place that you can see the tomb of the great Cyrus.The Cyrus tomb built on 2500 years ago.near the Cyrus tomb we can see the persepolis and takhte jamshid's palaces.These palaces was built 2500 years ago.if you see these places you will ask of yourself that how can they built these great places 2500 years ago?and you'll believe that 300(the movie) is just a lie !

Pasargadae was a city in ancient Persia, and is today an archaeological site. Its ruins lie 87 km (54 mi) northeast of Persepolis, in present Fars province of Iran (Persia), and was the first capital of the Persian Empire. The construction of the capital city by Cyrus the Great, begun in 546 BCE or later, was left unfinished, for Cyrus died in battle in 530 BCE or 529 BCE. Pasargadae remained the Persian capital until Darius began assembling another in Persepolis. The modern name comes from the Greek, but may derive from an earlier one used during Achaemenid times, Pasragada. The archaeological site covers 1.6 square kilometres, and includes a structure commonly believed to be the mausoleum of Cyrus, the fortress of Tall-e Takht sitting on top of a nearby hill, and the remains of two royal palaces and gardens. The gardens provide the earliest known example of the Persian chahar bagh, or four-fold garden design. (See Persian Gardens.) The most important monument in Pasargadae is undoubtedly the tomb of Cyrus the Great. It has six broad steps leading to the sepulchre, the chamber of which measures 3.17 m long by 2.11 m wide by 2.11 m high, and has a low and narrow entrance. Though there is no firm evidence identifying the tomb as that of Cyrus, Greek historians tell us that Alexander the Great believed it was so. When Alexander looted and destroyed Persepolis, he paid a visit to the tomb of Cyrus. Arrian, writing in the second century of the common era, recorded that Alexander commanded Aristobulus, one of his warriors, to enter the monument. Inside he found a golden bed, a table set with drinking vessels, a gold coffin, some ornaments studded with precious stones and an inscription of the tomb. No trace of any such inscription survives to modern times, and there is considerable disagreement to the exact wording of the text. Strabo reports that it read:

Garden Description: Cyrus (or Cambyses) the Great's palace garden at Pasargadae c550 BC. The paths are conjuctural. Water channels define the space between two palaces. There are two small pavilions. This is the earliest known remnant of what became the classical Persian garden. It is likely to have been planted with cypress, pomegranate and cherry. The plan is based on David Stronach's Pasargadae: a report on the excavations, (Oxford, 1978). The oldest Persian garden of which there are records belonged to Cyrus the Great c546 BC, in his capital, at Pasargadae in the province of Fars, from which Persia takes its name, to the north of Shiraz. The garden had a geometrical plan and stone watercourses. Cyrus the Great destroyed the Babylonian empire and established the Achaemenid Empire. It was an empire of great gardeners but it is thought that the gardens were used as places to admire from an upper window, or take an occasional walk. Eating and other social activities would take place in the garden pavilions, catching the breeze but protected from the sun. Gardens contained fruit trees and flowers, including the lily and rose. In 330 BC Alexander the Great saw the tomb of Cyrus the Great and recorded that it stood in an irrigated grove of trees. visual arts of Iran, also known as Persia before the advent of Islam in the 7th century AD. Ancient Period The earliest examples of Iranian architecture include small houses of packed mud and mud brick dating to about 6000 BC. An elaborate palace in the region, dating from about 2500 BC, indicates increased architectural complexity. At the end of the 2nd millennium BC, the Iranian tribal groups, including the Medes and Persians, had extended their territories. This period reveals a new tradition of building, featuring large central halls with columns. Stairways and terraces, along with other features, contributed to the prototypes for later architectural developments. The first great architectural development of the Persian Empire took place under the Achaemenid dynasty, which ruled from about 550 to 331 BC. The earliest Achaemenian ruins are at Pasargadae, the capital city of Persian king Cyrus the Great. Palaces here, set in walled gardens, had mud-brick walls, with foundations, doorways, columns, and other details made of stone.

It's all amazing and glorious to see the genus architecture in that period of time. The monuments and grave of the Great Koorosh(the king of persia).