TEHRAN – Iranian historian Chahryar Adle, who was the emeritus professor of the French National Centre for Scientific Research, died at his home in Paris on Sunday. He was 72.

“He passed away after feeling an ache in his chest,” his brother, Kamran Adle, told the Persian service of ISNA on Sunday evening.

“He will be shipped home for burial,” he added.

Born in Tehran, Adle left Iran for France in 1959 to pursue his studies.

He began to study history at the University of Paris, now the Paris Sorbonne University. He also received education in the archaeology of the Orient and Islamic art history at the École du Louvre.

He got 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 in the World Heritage List.

According to Encyclopaedia Iranica, Adle edited and contributed to the proceedings of important seminars on art and archaeology as well as the social and cultural history of Tehran. He also published several articles based on his field work at archaeological sites and monuments specifically relating to the medieval Islamic period in eastern Persia.

He was also the author of many books, including “Teheran Capitale Bicentenaire”.

Adle also collaborated with Irfan Habib and Karl M. Baipakov in writing “History of Civilization in Central Asia”.

“History of Civilizations of Central Asia VI” was also published by Adle, Anara Tabyshalieva and Mahdavan K. Palat.

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: Iranian historian Chahryar Adle in an undated photo

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