Chehel Sotoun, part of a UNESCO World Heritage landmark in the Iranian city of Isfahan, was damaged following airstrikes in the area, according to Iranian state media. The report comes one week after Golestan Palace in Tehran suffered significant damage from aerial bombardment linked to US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
A roughly minute-long video posted to X by Iranian state media appears to show doors blasted open. The grand windows of the 17th-century Chehel Sotoun Palace seem to have shattered.
The report noted that the office of Isfahan provincial government, located approximately 100 meters from the palace, was targeted by a strike on March 9.
The entire palace complex was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list as part of the Persian Garden in 2011. The serial listing encompasses nine historic gardens across Iran that collectively illustrate the evolution and diversity of the Persian garden tradition.
Chehel Sotoun Palace, known as the “Forty Column Palace,” is a relic of the Safavid Empire, celebrated for its splendid architecture and well-preserved murals. It was built during the reign of Shah Abbas I, also known as Abbas the Great, when Isfahan served as the empire’s capital. According to legend, the palace derives its name from the 20 columns supporting its main pavilion, which are doubled in the reflection of the pool before it, creating the illusion of 40 columns.
The building’s interior—a vast complex of soaring halls, lush courtyards, and winding corridors—is adorned with paintings attributed to the famed Safavid-era artist Reza Abbasi, whose works depict episodes in the history of the Safavid dynasty in sweeping panoramas. Some of these compositions were repainted in later centuries. One mural depicting a battle between Shah Ismail I and the Uzbeks, for instance, was altered over time, lending the palace walls deeper resonance as a kind of evolving historical palimpsest.
The report comes just one week after UNESCO, the cultural arm of the United Nations, confirmed that Golestan Palace in Tehran was damaged during the recent US-Israeli bombing of Iran. Images shared from the site—reminiscent of those circulated from Chehel Sotoun Palace in Isfahan—appear to show the historic complex battered by debris and blast shockwaves from a nearby strike at Arg Square.
Iran’s cultural heritage minister, Reza Salehi-Amiri, described the incident as an attack on “Iran’s cultural and national identity” and said a formal report would be submitted to UNESCO. The 16th-century Golestan Palace, also known as the “Palace of Roses,” was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2013. The complex is celebrated for its masterful integration of traditional Persian craftsmanship and architecture with Western aesthetic elements, including intricate tile-work, mirrored mosaics, and a formal garden punctuated by sunken pools.
Inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List is intended to afford cultural sites additional protections in times of armed conflict, as well as access to international preservation support. ARTnews has contacted UNESCO for comment.
