Gilgamesh
June 7th, 2005, 02:40 PM
Darioush Grand Hotel, Kish Island
Now comes modern Iran's most audacious salute yet to a past that Islamic fundamentalists would rather forget: a hotel built in the style of Persepolis, all graceful columns, statues of winged bulls with human faces and bas reliefs showing envoys bearing gifts for ancient Achaemenian kings .
"The glory of ancient Persia has been revived. It is the rebirth of Persepolis," tourist Hasan Ezzati said after visiting the new Dariush Grand Hotel, built on the Persian Gulf tourist island of Kish at an estimated cost of one trillion rials. The hotel's name reflects the modern Persian pronunciation of Darius, the ancient king.
After the 1979 Islamic revolution, hard-line clerics opposed any symbol from Iran's pre-Islamic days. Few resources were funnelled to ancient sites, including the palaces and citadels of Persepolis, a UN-designated World Heritage Site 710km south of Tehran.
Iran's ruling clerics had more reason to dislike Persepolis than Iran's other ancient sites. The late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, had linked his legitimacy as king to Persepolis and the Achaemenian era.
Leading historian Baqer Choubak said the sheer weight of Iran's history and public opposition persuaded clerics to gradually support the monuments, rather than destroy or neglect them.
"People simply didn't accept that Iran's history began after the advent of Islam. There is still a high degree of resistance," Choubak said.
The waning fervour from the 1979 Islamic revolution - and indeed, a disillusionment by many people with the clerical rule over Iran - helped encourage the public interest in the country's ancient history.
Now, the clerics are more likely to insist that history since the arrival of Islam in the 7th century should be emphasised, not that pre-Islamic history should be ignored.
"I feel I'm regaining a lost identity. Tourists visit ruins of Persepolis in southern Iran but here they see the relic's undamaged modern image," Marzieh Masaebi as she toured the hotel, expected to be open to guests later this month.
In a demonstration of their support for the huge private project owned by Hussein Sabet, an expatriate Iranian billionaire, authorities in Kish have named the square nearest the hotel the same name - after Darius, a king of the Achaemenid dynasty that was established around 500 BC and was the first significant kingdom of ancient Persia.
"We simply can't remove the name of our ancestors because we don't like it," said Mohammad Alavi, who designed the hotel. "It's part of our history. It's Iran's symbol and identity."
Darioush Grand Hotel Is a 5 star hotel fully eqquipped with the latest facilities of super modern hotel. It has 185 rooms on 4 floors, restaurants, assembly hall, recreation room, sport courts and an open amphitheater.
http://img224.echo.cx/img224/4821/dariush20grand20hotel2020kish2.jpg
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Now comes modern Iran's most audacious salute yet to a past that Islamic fundamentalists would rather forget: a hotel built in the style of Persepolis, all graceful columns, statues of winged bulls with human faces and bas reliefs showing envoys bearing gifts for ancient Achaemenian kings .
"The glory of ancient Persia has been revived. It is the rebirth of Persepolis," tourist Hasan Ezzati said after visiting the new Dariush Grand Hotel, built on the Persian Gulf tourist island of Kish at an estimated cost of one trillion rials. The hotel's name reflects the modern Persian pronunciation of Darius, the ancient king.
After the 1979 Islamic revolution, hard-line clerics opposed any symbol from Iran's pre-Islamic days. Few resources were funnelled to ancient sites, including the palaces and citadels of Persepolis, a UN-designated World Heritage Site 710km south of Tehran.
Iran's ruling clerics had more reason to dislike Persepolis than Iran's other ancient sites. The late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, had linked his legitimacy as king to Persepolis and the Achaemenian era.
Leading historian Baqer Choubak said the sheer weight of Iran's history and public opposition persuaded clerics to gradually support the monuments, rather than destroy or neglect them.
"People simply didn't accept that Iran's history began after the advent of Islam. There is still a high degree of resistance," Choubak said.
The waning fervour from the 1979 Islamic revolution - and indeed, a disillusionment by many people with the clerical rule over Iran - helped encourage the public interest in the country's ancient history.
Now, the clerics are more likely to insist that history since the arrival of Islam in the 7th century should be emphasised, not that pre-Islamic history should be ignored.
"I feel I'm regaining a lost identity. Tourists visit ruins of Persepolis in southern Iran but here they see the relic's undamaged modern image," Marzieh Masaebi as she toured the hotel, expected to be open to guests later this month.
In a demonstration of their support for the huge private project owned by Hussein Sabet, an expatriate Iranian billionaire, authorities in Kish have named the square nearest the hotel the same name - after Darius, a king of the Achaemenid dynasty that was established around 500 BC and was the first significant kingdom of ancient Persia.
"We simply can't remove the name of our ancestors because we don't like it," said Mohammad Alavi, who designed the hotel. "It's part of our history. It's Iran's symbol and identity."
Darioush Grand Hotel Is a 5 star hotel fully eqquipped with the latest facilities of super modern hotel. It has 185 rooms on 4 floors, restaurants, assembly hall, recreation room, sport courts and an open amphitheater.
http://img224.echo.cx/img224/4821/dariush20grand20hotel2020kish2.jpg
http://img224.echo.cx/img224/5194/dariush20grand20hotel2020kish3.jpg
http://img224.echo.cx/img224/7965/dariush20grand20hotel2020kish17.jpg
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