Iran shows journalists UNESCO-listed palace damaged by US, Israeli strike

TEHRAN, July 3. /TASS/. Journalists from Russia, Turkey, and Arab countries visited the Golestan Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage site and the residence of the Qajar Shah dynasty, which was damaged in an attack by the United States and Israel, a TASS correspondent reports.

Staff member of the museum's international department Shadi Jafari told TASS that restoring the palace will take three to five years. According to authorities, there is tens of millions of dollars worth of damage done to the structure.

At the entrance to the palace complex, reporters encountered an administrative building damaged by a strike in the early days of the conflict. A missile hit it and destroyed the three upper floors.

Jafari explained that the blast wave and shrapnel from the strike had affected Golestan, shattering 300-year-old mirror mosaics in the famous Mirror Hall, where the Shah once received guests and held receptions.

She added that the damaged inlaid doors originally belonged to a palace in Shiraz from the Zand dynasty period, and were brought here and installed by Agha Mohammad Khan, the founder of the Qajar dynasty, when he ascended the throne, along with columns taken from the Zand palace.

According to her, if restoration is carried out using new materials, it will effectively destroy part of this palace's historical identity.

Jafari concluded that any restoration must remain as close as possible to the building's original appearance, but in her opinion, a 100 percent restoration is impossible. What was created 300 years ago cannot be recreated using modern materials.