www.chnpress.com Renovation experts of the world heritage site of Persepolis, located in Iran’s Fars province, have succeeded in removing the black stains left by a filming group directed by renowned Iranian director, Tahmineh Milani, from the floors of Tachar, a palace denoted to Achaemenid King Darius the Great (549-486 BC).
While making a music video for world peace at Persepolis on Thursday, the film crew was stopped by the Persepolis guards due to their use of smoke devices for special effects which left some black stains on the floors and walls of the Tacher Palace.
As soon as the news was reported to authorities of Persepolis historical site, a team of experts went to the scene and expressed their objection to Milani, who said that the stains would vanish automatically within a few hours and ignored their objections. Some of the stains were vanished the next day When Persepolis authorities went to the Palace but some other had become pale which were removed completely by experts using water.
After obtaining permission from Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (ICHTO) and its provincial department in Fars, Milani, her film crew and a group of students went to Persepolis historic site and the palace of Darius the Great last Thursday in order to make a video clip for UNICEF. The use of some chemical materials and artificial smoke in the area for special effects left some black stains on the stone pavements of the palaces’ southeastern courtyard, the eastern staircase and the entrance of the palace. Although Milani rejects the accusations, the pictures which have been taken clearly show the black stains left by her team.
This is the third time in the past few months that the Persepolis Palace Complex, registered as a world heritage by UNESCO, is harmed by filming groups, raising objections to the organizations responsible for issuing permits For these groups to make movies and video clips at such precious historic site.
Prior to this, stains of fake blood used for special effects which were left on the walls and floor of another palace within Persepolis by another group of filmmakers outraged cultural heritage experts. The stains were removed after a lot of effort by a team of renovation experts. A member of the same team had also made irrecoverable damage to two bas-reliefs carved on the walls of the palace of King Artaxerxes (465-425 BC), grandson of Darius the Great.
The entrance of Tachar Palace is closed to visitors due to its vulnerability and those who go to Persepolis can only visit this part of the palace complex from outside. Therefore, this is surprising to see ICHTO has issued permission for making such a film in the palace in which a dozen of children were also partaking.
This is while efforts by Iranian cultural heritage experts to stop ICHTO from issuing permits for filming at Persepolis have so far born no fruit. | 
