2,500 year celebration of Iran's monarchy

The 2,500 year celebration of Iran’s monarchy (Persian جشن‌های ۲۵۰۰ سالۀ شاهنشاهی ایران) consisted of an elaborate set of festivities that took place October 12- 16, 1971 on the occasion of the 2,500th anniversary of the founding of the Iranian monarchy (Persian Empire) by Cyrus the Great. The intent of the celebration was to demonstrate Iran's long and magnificent history and to showcase its contemporary advancements under the administration of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran.

Planning

The planning for the event took more than a decade. The Cyrus Cylinder served in the official logo as the symbol for the event. With the decision to hold the main event at the ancient city Persepolis near Shiraz, the local infrastructure had to be improved including the airport at Shiraz and a highway to Persepolis. While the press and supporting staff would be housed in Shiraz the main festivities were planned for Persepolis that for this occasion would be the site of an elaborate tent city. The area around Persepolis was cleared of snakes and other vermin.cite web| url=http://www.iranian.com/CyrusKadivar/2002/January/2500/ | title=We are awake. 2,500-year celebrations revisited | author=Kadivar C | date=2002-01-25 | accessdate=2006-10-23] Other events were scheduled for Pasargadae, the site of the tomb of Cyrus the Great, and Tehran.

The Tent City of Persepolis

The Tent City (also Golden City) was planned by the Swiss interior design firm of Jansen AG on convert|160|acre|km2 that took its inspiration from the 1520 Field of the Cloth of Gold meeting between Francis I of France and Henry VIII of England. Fifty 'tents' (actually prefabricated luxury apartments with traditional Persian tent-cloth surrounds) were arranged in a star pattern around a central fountain, and vast numbers of trees were planted around them in the desert, recreating something of how the ancient Persepolis would have looked. 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 meters. 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 performed by Maxim's de Paris, which closed its restaurant in Paris for almost two weeks in order to provide for the glittering celebrations. Lanvin designed the uniforms of the Imperial Household. 250 red Mercedes-Benz limousines were used to chauffeur guests from airport and back. Dinnerware was created by Limoges.

Festivities

The festivities were opened on October 12, 1971 when the Shah and the Shahbanu paid homage to Cyrus the Great at his mausoleum at Pasargadae. For the next two days, the Shah and his wife greeted arriving guests, often directly at the Shiraz airport. On the evening of the 14th, a grand gala dinner took place in the Banqueting Hall in celebration of the birthday of the Shahbanu. Sixty heads of royalty and heads of state were assembled at the single large serpentine table in the Banqueting Hall, to be served:

* quails' eggs stuffed with Caspian caviar, mousse of crayfish tails with Nantua sauce,
* roast rack of lamb with truffles
* roast peacock--Iran's ancient national symbol--stuffed with foie gras,
* champagne sorbet and glazed ring of figs with raspberry champagne sherbet.

Spanning five and a half hours, it remains the longest and most lavish official banquet in modern history as recorded in successive editions of the Guinness Book of World Records. A son et lumière show and fireworks, accompanied by Iannis Xenakis' specially-commissioned electronic music piece "Persepolis"Harvard reference| Surname1=Karkowski | Given1=Z. | Surname2=Harley | Given1=J. | Surname3=Szymanksi | Given3=F. | Surname4=Gable | Given4=B. | Year=2002 | Chapter=Liner Notes | Title=Iannis Xenakis: Persepolis + Remixes | Place=San Francisco | Publisher=Asphodel LTD.] concluded the evening. The next day saw a parade of armies of different Iranian empires covering two and half millennia by 1,724 men of the Iranian armed forces, all in period costume. In the evening a less formal “traditional Persian party” was held in the Banqueting Hall as the concluding event at Persepolis.cite web| url=http://www.angelfire.com/empire/imperialiran/persepolis1.html | title=The Persepolis Celebrations | accessdate=2006-10-23] Two of the large candelabra used in the tent were later acquired by Herbert W. Armstrong and used to furnish the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, California. These have since been acquired by Herbert W. Armstrong College in Edmond, Oklahoma.

On the final day, the Shah inaugurated the Shahyad Tower (later renamed the Azadi Tower after the Iranian revolution) in Tehran to commemorate the event. The tower was also home to the Museum of Persian History. In it was displayed the Cyrus Cylinder, considered the first human rights document to espouse freedom of religion. This 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, at his mausoleum.

The event brought together the rulers of two of the oldest extant monarchies, the Shah and Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia. By the end of the decade, both monarchies had ceased to exist.

ecurity

Security was a major concern. Persepolis was a favorable 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, took into preventive custody anyone it suspected to be potential troublemakers..

Guests

Elizabeth II had been advised not to attend, with security being an issue (Prince Philip and Princess Anne represented her instead). Other major leaders who did not attend were Richard Nixon and Georges Pompidou. Nixon had initially planned to attend but later changed his mind and sent Spiro Agnew instead. Notable guests from the Far East included Imelda Marcos, the First Lady of the Philippines

Some of the guests who where invited include:

Royals

* Emperor Halie Selassie Emperor of Ethiopia
* King Frederick IX of Denmark and Queen Ingrid

* King Baudouin I of Belgium and Queen Fabiola of Belgium

*King Hussein and Princess Muna of Jordan

*King Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev of Nepal

*King Olav V of Norway

*Emir Isa ibn Salman Al Khalifah of Bahrain

*King Constantine II and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece

*Sultan Qaboos of Oman

*Prince Abdul Vali Khan and princess Bilqis Begum of Afghanistan

*King Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho

*Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tunku Abdul Halim of Malaysia

*President Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahayan of the United Arab Emirates

*Prince Franz Josef II and Princess Georgina of Liechtenstein

*Prince Ranier III and Princess Grace of Monaco

*Grand Duke Jean Grand Duchess Josephine-Charlotte of Belgium

*Prince Bernhard of the Nederlands

*Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and Anne, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom

*Princess Salimah Aga Khan

*Crown Prince Carl Gustaf of Sweden

*Prince Juan Carlos and Princess Sofia of Spain

*Prince Victor Emmanuel and Princess Marina doria of Italy

*Prince Mikasa of Japan

*Prince Moulay Abdallah and Princess Lamia of Morocco

*Prince Makhosini of Swaziland

Presidents and Prime Ministers

*President Tito of Yugoslavia

*President Nikolai Podgorny of the Soviet Union

*President Franz Jonas of Austria

*President Todor Zhivkov of Bulgaria

*President Emílio Garrastazu Médici of Brazil

*President Urho Kekkonen of Finland

*President Cevdet Sunay of Turkey

*President Pal Losonczi of Hungary
*President Ludvík Svoboda of Czechoslovakia

*President Yahya Khan of Pakistan

*President Suleiman Franjieh of Lebanon

*President Jacobus Johannes Fouché of South Africa

*President Leopold Sedar Senghor of Senegal

*President Moktar Ould Daddah of Mauritania

*President Hubert Maga of Dahomey

*President Nicolae Ceauşescu of Romania

*Chancellor Willy Brandt of West Germany

*Prime Minister Jacques Chaban-Delmas of France

*Prime Minister Kim Jong-pil of South Korea

*Prime Minister Emilio Colombo of Italy

*Governor-General Roland Michener of Canada

*Governor-General Sir Paul Hasluck of Australia

*Vice President Spiro Agnew of the United States

*Foreign Minister Rui Patrício of Portugal

*President Rudolf Gnägi of Switzerland

*First Lady Imelda Marcos of the Philippines

Criticism

In retrospect, the event can be considered the swan song of the Iranian monarchy Fact|date=February 2007. Arguably, it was the most notable international social event in the 20th century involving royalty and heads of state. The festivities were criticized for their lavishness and it was opined that the money could have been better spent by supplying social services. Such critiques were voiced in the western press and by Ayatollah Khomeini and his followers. Expenses were said to be as high as $200 million, while the Ministry of the Court set placed the cost at $17 million. The actual expense figure may be difficult to tabulate and may remain a partisan issue; Ansari, one of the organizers, puts it at $22 million. The defenders of the activities point out other benefits such as the opening of 3,200 schools, improvement in infrastructure, and the positive effect on Iran's public relations. The event was largely discredited after the Iranian Revolution.Fact|date=July 2007

In addition, historical and political analysts consider the criticism of the event in connection with the Iranian Revolution. Revolutionary critics claimed that the event emphasized Reza Shah's loss of touch with the general public. Critics of the regime claimed Reza Shah was too secular, un-Islamic, and westernized. His shunning of Islam's role in Iran alienated the general population from the regime, who began to see the shah as puppet of the west, trying to impress it and court it by westernizing Iran. The cost of the event added to the notion of the regime being authoritarian and not caring of its peoples.

Today

Persepolis remains a major tourist attraction in Iran and apparently there are suggestions to rehabilitate the archeological site as it is a proclamation of Iranian history. [cite web |url=http://www.iran-daily.com/1386/2873/html/art.htm#s236631 |author=Iran Daily |title=Team Named For Renovating Persepolis |date=06-23-2007, accessed 09-03-2008] The rededicated Azadi Tower is a major landmark in Tehran. The mausoleum of Reza Shah Pahlavi was destroyed after the revolution and replaced by a public toilet. [cite book | author=Azar Nafisi |title=Reading Lolita in Tehran |publisher=Random House (2004), paperback edition, page 230]

Quotes

* Orson Welles: "This was no party of the year, it was the celebration of 25 centuries!"
* Ruhollah Khomeini: "Devil's Festival."

References

External links

* [http://www.myspace.com/1971persepolis Official Myspace tribute page of the 1971 Persepolis Festivities]