DAIS OF KHOSROW PALACE DISCOVERED

Tehran Times, Iran
June 12 2006

TEHRAN — The team of archaeologists working on the ruins of the
Khosrow Palace near the city of Qasr-e Shirin in the western Iranian
province of Kermanshah discovered the dais of the Sassanid palace
during their current round of excavations, the Persian service of
CHN reported on Sunday.

"The platform was used by the ruler or owner of the palace," team
director Yusef Moradi said.

"The new excavations and studies on smashed ceilings have determined
that the palace was destroyed as a result of an earthquake. Texts
written by Iranian and Arab historians also mentioned a devastating
quake which destroyed the palace," he added.

Covering an area of 75,000 square meters, the palace was built by the
Sassanid king Khosrow II for his Armenian Christian wife Shirin. Some
Iranian and Arab geographers and historians of the early Islamic era
called the palace one of the wonders of the world.

Archaeological studies are underway to determine the original
appearance of Khosrow Palace.

"The documents and the texts have given a fairly exact understanding
of the architecture of the palace. It had two sections, private and
official, and studies have been carried out on the latter. The team
will center on this section and the other section in the next phases
of excavations," Moradi said.

The team of archaeologists also recently discovered ruins of the
ceremonial hall of the palace.

The region was excavated by French archeologist and prehistorian
Jacques de Morgan in the late nineteenth century, British archaeologist
and writer Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell in 1910 and 1911, and
then by Oscar Reuter. Each one prepared architectural plans of the
Khosrow Palace, but the Iranian team believes that none of the plans
are reliable.