Golestan Palace in Tehran, a world heritage site, and buildings in historic city of Isfahan harmed, despite Unesco sending coordinates
Julian Borger and Deepa Parent
The governor of the historic Iranian city of Isfahan has accused the US and Israel of a “declaration of war on a civilization” as heritage sites across the country suffer damage in their bombing campaign.
Golestan Palace, a world heritage site in Tehran, was badly damaged. Photograph: Sobhan Farajvan/Pacific Press/Shutterstock
The most serious confirmed damage to date has been to Tehran’s Golestan Palace, dating back to the 14th century, and the 17th-century Chehel Sotoon Palace in Isfahan.
Judging from videos and public statements, neither historic building was hit by a missile directly but the shock wave from nearby blasts and possibly some missile debris shattered glass and brought down tiles and masonry.
Video from the scene showed that Golestan Palace’s celebrated hall of mirrors had been shattered with shards of intricate mirrorwork scattered across its floor.
The palace is a world heritage site under the protection of the UN’s cultural body Unesco, which issued a statement of concern after it was damaged on 2 March, saying it had “communicated to all parties concerned the geographical coordinates of sites on the world heritage list”….
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