Pasargadae occupies an open archaeological landscape in Iran’s Fars province. Founded in the sixth century BCE by Cyrus the Great, it was the earliest dynastic capital of the Achaemenid Empire. UNESCO inscribed the property on the World Heritage List in 2004 and describes a protected archaeological area of about 160 hectares. The place is not a single palace behind walls: remains lie across a broad plain, and their spacing is part of the story of how the royal centre was conceived.
Cyrus’s capital belongs to an early phase of Persian royal architecture. UNESCO notes that the site brought together contributions from different peoples within the empire, while its buildings developed a distinct Achaemenid language. The capital’s known remains include palaces, a gatehouse, audience and residential spaces, garden features and the mausoleum identified as Cyrus’s tomb. The ancient city extended beyond the inscribed property, and UNESCO says large areas have not yet been excavated. What visitors see is therefore both a major monument group and an incomplete archaeological record.