Aerial photos of Iran Persepolis in 1936

Here are some aerial photos showing the Iranian historical site of Persepolis in the 1930s.

The photography was done in 1935 by German professor  Erich F. Schmidt, then field director of the Persepolis.

The aerial photographs served as an overall view of the extent and layout of the excavations and often sped up ground operations.

About these aerial photos, Erich Schmidt wrote in a Chicago University publication, “In thirteen hours of flying over the environs of Persepolis we succeeded in mapping more than four hundred ancient sites in the plain of Persepolis. A task of years if carried out on the ground.”

Persepolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire. It is situated in the plains of Marvdasht, encircled by the southern Zagros mountains of Iran. Modern-day Shiraz is situated southwest of the Persepolis ruins. 

AG/AG