5. In 1971, the Shah Threw a Festival to Commemorate 2,500 Years of Monarchy in Iran
Cyrus the Great founded the Imperial State of Iran in the sixth century BCE, and in 1971, the Shah wanted to commemorate 2,500 years of the Iranian monarchy. He threw a massive party in the ruins of Persepolis, near the city of Shiraz. The party took an entire year to plan and organize. The Shiraz airport had to be revamped for all the VIP passengers that would land there, and the highway between Shiraz and Persepolis had to be renovated.
Instead of housing all the visiting dignitaries in Shiraz, the Shah wanted them to stay at Persepolis. To accommodate them, he built an elaborate tent city – the tents were actually luxury apartments covered with Persian cloth – and had trees planted and 50,000 songbirds imported. Over 600 guests attended the party. The menu served was absolutely decadent – it consisted of delicacies like quail eggs, mousse made of crayfish tails, and champagne sorbet – especially compared with the squalor that many Iranian citizens were living in.
Events were planned at the historic locations of Pasargadae, the tomb of Cyrus the Great, and the ruined palaces of Persepolis. The centerpiece of the celebrations and the symbol of the entire event was the Cyrus cylinder, which is primarily regarded as the first declaration of human rights in history. Unfortunately, the Shah didn’t realize that his people viewed him as only paying lip service to the contributions of Cyrus and not living up to the standard that he set. To many of them, he didn’t seem to be at all concerned about the human rights of the people living there.