The governor of the historic Iranian city of Isfahan accused the United States and Israel of a “declaration of war on a civilization” as heritage sites across the country suffer damage in their bombing campaign.
The most serious damage confirmed to date has occurred at the 14th-century Golestan Palace in Tehran and the 17th-century Chehel Sotoon Palace in Isfahan.
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Judging from videos and public statements, none of the historic buildings were hit directly by a missile, but were hit by the blast wave from nearby explosions and possibly by some missile debris, broken glass, and toppled tiles and masonry.
Video from the scene showed that the Golestan Palace’s famous hall of mirrors had been vandalized with fragments of intricate mirrors scattered across the floor.
The palace is a world heritage site under the protection of the UN cultural body Unesco, which issued a statement of concern after it was damaged on March 2, saying it had “communicated to all interested parties the geographical coordinates of the sites on the world heritage list”.
In recent days, large explosions have occurred in the center of Isfahan, the capital of Iran in three historical eras, where much of the architecture dates back to the time of the Safavid dynasty, from the 16th to the 18th century.
Chehel Sotoon Palace suffered the worst impact, but broken windows and doors, as well as dislodged tiles, have been reported at Ali Qapu Palace and several mosques around the large Naqsh-e Jahan Square. Videos filmed by residents from inside the square showed plumes of smoke rising after nearby airstrikes.
Isfahan Governor Mehdi Jamalinejad said the damage had been inflicted even after the coordinates of the historical sites had been circulated between the warring parties and after blue shield signs, which denote historical treasures under the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Objects in War, had been placed on the roofs of important buildings.
“Isfahan is not just any city, it is a museum without a roof,” Jamalinejad said in a speech posted on social media.
“In none of the previous eras, not in the Afghan wars, not in the Mughal conquest, not even during the ‘sacred defense’ (the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88) was this ever done,” the governor said.
“This is a declaration of war on a civilization,” he added. “An enemy that does not have culture does not pay attention to the symbols of culture. A country that does not have history does not respect the signs of history. A country that does not have identity does not value identity.”
An Iranian geologist who worked in Isfahan for many years said in a message to The Guardian that the ancient capital was particularly vulnerable.
“Isfahan has long been attacked from below, by land subsidence that is destroying Safavid-era structures, and now from above, by the Americans,” the geologist said. “Isfahan seems to have fewer friends today than ever.”
