The director of the palace, in tears, could not believe it. The war between Iran, the US and Israel had just begun — the site was damaged on March 4, just five days after the start of the bombings against Tehran—, and the destruction was already everywhere. Washington y Tel Avivwho assured actively and passively that their bombs sought to free the Iranians from the yoke of the Islamic Republicwere damaging Iran’s history and heritage.
“The objects in this palace are like my children… we have dedicated years of work and conservation to this place. The unique floors, the historical decorations on the ceilings… they have all been destroyed. Just a week ago we had completed the renovation of the hall of mirrors, and now they are all destroyed,” the director of the palace explained to the press, sobbing. Golestan palacein Tehran, Leave Emami.
Interior of the Golestan Palace before the bombings. / EP
The place, whose enclosure dates back to the 15th century but whose current state was built in 1865, was the old imperial palace of the Iranian dynasty of the Defeatand is a world heritage site according to the UNESCO since 2013. But all this has not been enough to save the place from air attacks, especially carried out by Israel. US aviation has focused primarily on southern Iran in its attacks; the Hebrew State, in Tehran and the northwest of the Persian country.
Preserve identity
“When the cultural heritage is destroyed, a part of a nation’s identity and memory is lost forever. “When we try to document everything that happens, we are not ignoring human suffering, but we are trying to preserve the history, identity and memory of our people and future generations,” he explained in a recent interview. Sepideh MaziarIranian archaeologist at the Goethe University of Frankfurtwhich has made an interactive map to trace all the Iranian cultural heritage damaged or destroyed during this war, which began on February 28 with the surprise assassination of the until then Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Jameneí.
According to accounts by Maziar—whose map and work serves as a form of “therapy”—the historical sites with damage amount to 87, in just over a month of war. Among the damaged historical places are also – apart from the Golestán Palace – the Sadabad palace complexa royal residence built in the 19th century, the palace of Saltanatabad the old Qasr prisonnow a museum, or the Tehran radioamong many others. These are all historic sites, built long before the Islamic revolution of 1979.
Sadabad palace interior / EP
“The reality is that in Iran, You can’t set foot anywhere without finding something of historical value.either. Registering such a high number of cultural sites, especially with the current restrictions in Iran, is very difficult and time-consuming for us. So I think that once internet access is possible again in Iran, then we will see many more damaged cultural and archaeological sites that we do not have records of now,” Maziar continued.
Violations of international law
Everyone in the conflict has assured the same thing: both the US, Israel and Iran claim to bomb only military targets. Nothing could be further from the truth. Israel has attacked electrical and oil facilities in Iran; Iran has attacked the refineries of its neighboring countries, and the US destroyed a primary school in the Iranian town of Minab on the first day of war. All these attacks, added to the destruction of Iranian cultural heritage, represent clear violations of international law and the Hague Conventionsigned and ratified by the three countries.
“This convention also determines mechanisms to investigate these violations, in addition to investigating the actors involved. And the problem now is not only during the war. Taking into account who is attacking Iran, International aid for the repair and conservation of everything damaged may be blocked or may not arrive. We have already seen this in past conflicts,” he told Al Jazeera. Bijan Ronairesearcher of the Oxford University.
A clear example was Syria: he Islamic State (IS) almost completely destroyed the ancient city of Palmyraa world heritage site since 1980. The place was completely abandoned after the conquest of the city by the regime of Bashar al-Asadsanctioned and isolated internationally until the fall of his government, in December 2024.
In recent years, Palmyra has been the subject of constant theft of historical objects and structures, later sold on the black market by the Syrian population itself, condemned to poverty after 14 years of civil war.
“The destruction of cultural heritage is irreversible. It erases identity, history, the memory of civilizations. No military or political objective justifies the destruction, negligent or conscious, of the heritage of all humanity,” declared in a statement the American Blue Shield Committeean NGO dedicated to forcing Washington apply the Hague Convention.
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