Abstract

This paper conceptualizes the problem of establishing a site museum in the contested World Heritage Site of Pasargadae in Iran. Pasargadae was constructed in 550 BCE as the capital of Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid dynasty, and was revered by the Persians. Today, the archaeological ruins on site represent the ancient origin for Perso-Islamic gardens, the origins of the royal Achaemenid architecture, which exemplify that civilization. On this basis, Pasargadae was in 2004 inscribed as a World Heritage site. This is a contested cultural landscape, positioned between contending ideologies such as nationalism and state Islamism. It is at once a site of pilgrimage, political dissent, and official celebration and violence. Furthermore and beyond national and international tourism, the conditions of this site are complicated locally by the presence of nomadic and sedentary lifestyles in its close proximity. Pasargadae represents a challenge to the notion of heritage and its relationship to the changing politico-cultural landscape of Iran. This paper will conceptualize an approach to establishing a site museum under the rubric of ‘place’ which reveals different, contending aspects of the sites. The proposed approach could provide a methodological framework for heritage sites in comparable conditions.