TEHRAN – A large number of archaeologists, scholars, experts, officials and foreign diplomats gathered at the National Museum of Iran on Sunday to bid farewell to Chahryar Adle, the Paris-based Iranian historian who died at the age of 72 last week.

Adle was a professor emeritus at the French National Centre for Scientific Research.

French Ambassador in Tehran Bruno Foucher, director of Iran’s Cultural Heritage Tourism and Handicrafts Organization (CHTHO) Masud Soltanifar, and a large number of academics and cultural heritage activists were among the participants.

Messages of condolences from Minister of Science, Research and Technology Mohammad Farhadi and UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova were conveyed at the ceremony.

The participants paid tribute to Adle and afterwards, his body was transferred to Tehran’s Behesht Zahra Cemetery. “His body will remain there until the final decision is made,” his brother said at the ceremony.

Adle’s body was transferred to a mortuary in Tehran after the ceremony to remain there until his family decides where he will be buried.

His brother, Kamran Adle, previously asked Iranian officials to allow Adle to be buried at the foot of Tughril Tower, a Seljuk site in Tehran where he has made great efforts. However, the request was rejected.

He said that Adle will likely be buried in Herat in Afghanistan beside some his ancestors if Afghan officials are in agreement.

Born in Tehran, Adle left Iran for France in 1959 to pursue his studies. He received a Ph.D. in the history of Iran and Central Asia.

He was among the Iranian experts who compiled the necessary information to submit to UNESCO to register Persepolis, the Chogha Zanbil Ziggurat and Naqsh-e Jahan Square on the World Heritage List.

On October 5, 2009, Adle was awarded the UNESCO Five Continents Medal in recognition of his outstanding contribution to UNESCO’s General and Regional Histories, a study project in which people in certain regions write their own history.

Photo: Military personnel carry the coffin of Chahryar Adle in the courtyard of the National Museum of Iran in Tehran on June 28, 2015. (ISNA/Hamid Forutan)

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