Tehran, April 18: Iranian officials bid farewell to the Cyrus Cylinder after the seven-month exhibition of the Achaemenid relic at Iran’s National Museum came to an end.
Curator of the British Museum’s Ancient Near East Department John Curtis, Curator of Islamic and Iranian Coins of the London museum Vesta Sarkhosh accompanied the cylinder back to Britain.
The world’s first charter of human rights will also be displayed at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris,
On loan from the British Museum, the Cyrus Cylinder was sent to Iran for a four-month exhibition, which was supposed to end on January 10, 2011, but it was extended for another three months due to its very wide appeal.
The cylinder was escorted by a delegation headed by John Curtis to the exhibition site where it was displayed for the first time in the past 40 years.
The 2,500-year-old Cyrus Cylinder was to be temporarily handed over to Iran in September 2009. The British Museum, however, backed out of the agreement, citing Iran’s post-election unrest.
Tehran had earlier said that it would cease cooperation with the British Museum until the cylinder is loaned to the National Museum of Iran.
Considered the world’s first charter of human rights, the clay cylinder is inscribed in Babylonian cuneiform with an account by Cyrus II, King of Persia .
—–Agencies