Iran contains the ancient city of Persepolis.
Persepolis was a ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Persian Empire in what is now Fars Province, near modern Shiraz. Darius I began construction around 518 BCE, and later rulers, including Xerxes I and Artaxerxes I, expanded the terraces, palaces and audience halls.
The site’s monumental stairways and reliefs depict delegations bringing gifts from across the empire. These carvings are valuable evidence of Achaemenid imperial organization and artistic style. Persepolis was not the empire’s only important city: Susa, Babylon and Ecbatana also served major administrative or royal functions.
Alexander the Great captured Persepolis in 330 BCE, and a major fire damaged or destroyed parts of the palace complex. The ruins were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. Persepolis is sometimes confused with Pasargadae, another Persian royal center in Iran, but Pasargadae was founded by Cyrus the Great and is a separate archaeological site.