Iran’s Golestan Palace under shockwave:
US-Israeli airstrikes damage the heart of historic Tehran Automatic translate

On March 2, 2026, on the third day of the American-Israeli military operation against Iran, Golestan Palace staff discovered a scene of destruction the likes of which the site had not seen in a century and a half. The shockwave from an airstrike on neighboring buildings shattered historic stained-glass windows, tore mirrored ceiling mosaics from the ceiling, and damaged decorative elements that had survived several revolutions and coups of the 20th century.

Three days of war: how the strikes reached the historic center

On February 28, 2026, the US and Israeli armed forces launched coordinated strikes against Iran. President Donald Trump ordered the attack without congressional authorization, declaring the country’s military infrastructure and leadership as targets. Several high-ranking Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, were killed in the first hours of the operation.

On the evening of March 1, local time, a strike reached Arg Square in southern Tehran. The targets were a building associated with the judiciary and a nearby police station. Both sites are located several hundred meters from the Golestan complex, in the area where the city’s old bazaar abuts the palace walls. The palace was not directly targeted, but the shockwave passed through its halls, leaving a trail of destruction inside.

By March 5, according to the Hyperallergic agency, more than 1,300 people had been killed in Iran as a result of US-Israeli strikes. Tehran responded with drone and missile strikes against Israel and Gulf states hosting US military bases.

What happened to the palace: a picture of the damage

Photographs distributed by Iranian and international news agencies documented several impact zones. In the Ayvan-e Takht-e Marmar — the Hall of the Marble Throne on the complex’s first floor — ornate ceiling elements dating back to approximately 1750 collapsed. Window frames overlooking both the courtyard and the exterior were shattered. Parts of the flooring sustained mechanical damage, and fragments of marble statues lay among the glass debris.

The Hall of Mirrors, or Talar-e Ayneh, suffered particularly significant damage. Built in the 1870s according to the designs of architect Abul Hassan Isfahani (1861–1946), the hall featured a ceiling and walls covered in aynekari — hand-made mirror mosaics. The shock wave tore the mosaic tiles from their surfaces, and tiny shards of silvery glass covered the floors in a continuous layer. All of the hall’s exterior glass was destroyed.

Mehr News reported that, prior to the strikes, several items from the throne room were moved to secure storage. This preventative measure likely saved some of the movable exhibits, but the decorative elements that make up the walls and ceilings themselves are physically impossible to remove.

Palace Director Afarin Emami greeted journalists with tears in her eyes: "The objects in this palace are like my children; years of labor have gone into each one. Unique floors and ceiling decorations have been destroyed — and we only completed the restoration of the Hall of Mirrors a week ago." A restoration campaign that took years of work was wiped out in a matter of seconds.

Professor of Iranian and Islamic art at the University of London, Susan Babaei, described the incident as "extremely disturbing." She explained that the palace complex is organized into concentric zones: the most ceremonial halls are located closer to the outer perimeter, while the interior spaces historically served as living quarters. The shock wave targeted the ceremonial section, the most richly decorated.

Babai drew an analogy with the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles: Golestan’s ainekari created a similar effect of diffused, flickering light. "Broken mirrors, fragments of mirror mosaics, chandeliers, gilded frames — all scattered across the hall, like in photographs after the bombings," she wrote.

Golestan: Five Hundred Years in the Center of Tehran

The palace complex’s history dates back to the 16th century, when the Safavid Empire erected a fortified structure on this site — a citadel that governed the province. The site occupied a strategically advantageous location in the center of what was then Tehran, and it was this location that attracted the attention of the new ruling dynasty after the change of power.

In 1779, the Qajars came to power, proclaiming Tehran the country’s capital. They chose the Safavid citadel as their residence and state court. Over the course of 131 years, successive shahs rebuilt, expanded, and embellished the complex until it comprised 17 separate buildings connected by gardens, water channels, and courtyards.

During this period, the distinctive appearance of the Golestan emerged — a combination of hand-made Persian tiles, mirror mosaics, carved plaster, and gilded ceilings with European decorative motifs. The latter came to Iran through the Qajars’ diplomatic contacts with European courts and were deliberately incorporated into the halls’ decor as a demonstration of the country’s cultural openness.

The center of artistic production of an entire era

During the Qajar period, Golestan served not only as the seat of power but also as a source of artistic standards. Painters, mosaicists, plaster carvers, and lacquer miniature artists worked at court, creating works for the palace halls and passing on their craft skills to apprentices. It was from here that the standards of Qajar architecture and decorative arts were disseminated throughout the country.

UNESCO inscribed Golestan on the World Heritage List in 2013 under criterion (iii) — as an outstanding testimony to cultural tradition. In its official description, the organization stated that the complex contains "the most complete collection of the artistic and architectural heritage of the Qajar era."

In addition to its architecture, the palace houses extensive collections. Christiane Gruber, a professor of Islamic art at the University of Michigan who worked directly in the palace archives, reported that Golestan possesses one of the world’s most significant collections of Islamic manuscripts — many with miniatures and ornamental decorations. According to her, these manuscripts document "the cultural, artistic, and intellectual heritage of Islam and Iran over many centuries." The palace archives also contain rare 19th-century photographs — Golestan was one of the first places in the East to develop this technology.

From the courtyard to the museum

The Qajar dynasty ruled Iran until 1925, when the Pahlavis came to power. The new ruling house gradually moved the political center to the northern neighborhoods of Tehran. Some of the buildings in the historic complex were demolished to make way for administrative buildings — faceless structures that still surround the remaining portion of the complex today.

Nevertheless, the Golestan Palace continued to be used for official ceremonies. In 1967, the coronation of the last Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, took place in the Hall of Mirrors. After the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the palace was placed under state protection, inventoried, and gradually opened to visitors as a museum. Restoration work in various halls continued until 2026.

UNESCO, international law and official reactions

UNESCO issued a statement immediately after the first reports of damage, announcing that it had shared the coordinates of World Heritage sites and nationally significant monuments with all relevant parties "to prevent possible damage." The organization also announced it was monitoring the condition of cultural heritage in the region.

Iranian Culture Minister Seyed Abbas Salehi demanded that a delegation of UNESCO experts be immediately dispatched to Tehran to assess the damage. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addressed the organization more forcefully: "It’s natural that a regime that won’t survive for another century hates peoples with a long history. But where is UNESCO? Its silence is unacceptable."

International humanitarian law — primarily the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property — obligates warring parties to refrain from attacks on cultural heritage sites. The Convention provides for a mechanism of "enhanced protection" for the most significant monuments; protected sites are marked with the "blue shield" symbol. The 1972 UNESCO World Heritage Convention imposes additional obligations on States Parties.

Professor Gruber also recalled that back in 2020, following the assassination of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani, President Trump publicly threatened to strike 52 Iranian sites, "some of which are of high cultural significance." This threat was then considered by international legal experts to be a violation of the laws of war. "UNESCO World Heritage sites do not belong to any political regime," Gruber stated. "They constitute our common global heritage and require collective protection, especially in times of war."

Destruction outside Tehran: Isfahan and Lorestan

While the world’s media focused on Golestan, strikes also affected other historic centers of the country. On March 10, an explosion near the provincial administrative building in the Dawlat Khaneh historical complex in Isfahan damaged adjacent Safavid-era monuments. Dawlat Khaneh itself dates back to the 17th century and is located in the historic heart of the city near Naqsh-e Jahan Square.

The 17th-century Chehel Sotun Palace, also known as the "Forty Columns," was damaged by the blast wave: windows were blown out, wall inlays in the khatam technique were scattered, and several frescoes painted in the Persian miniature style were damaged. According to the WANA news agency, the Ali Qapu Palace was also damaged: windows were shattered, and adjacent art galleries and craft markets suffered similar damage.

The ceiling of the Museum of Modern Art partially collapsed in a nearby architectural complex. The Museum of Decorative and Applied Arts and the Natural History Museum also sustained damage.

Isfahan Governor Mehdi Jamalinejad noted that despite the "blue shield" signs painted on buildings, the strikes still caused destruction. "Isfahan is a museum without a roof," he said, calling the incident "a declaration of war on civilization."

On March 8 at 5:30 PM local time, a strike near the Falak ol-Aflak fortress in Khorramabad, western Iran, destroyed the building of the Lorestan Provincial Directorate of Cultural Heritage and seriously damaged two museums — an archaeological museum and an anthropological museum. This was reported by Ata Hasanpur, head of the provincial heritage department.

Iran’s Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Handicrafts called on UNESCO, the UN and international human rights bodies to "activate legal mechanisms for the protection of cultural heritage in armed conflict" and to send independent experts and journalists to Iran to assess the damage.

What is lost: a specialist’s view

Mirror mosaics — ainekari — are created by hand: each piece of glass is adjusted to a specific location, taking into account the curvature of the surface and the angle of light. This technique became widespread in Iran during the Qajar period and reached its peak in the palace interiors of the 19th century. While creating a new mosaic is technically possible, the original material, the way it was laid, and the hand of the individual artisans cannot be replicated.

Professor Babaei emphasized that the Golestan’s ceremonial halls were designed as visual messages: the space conveyed state power, cultural depth, and openness to the world. The palace was built to impress foreign diplomats and shape their impressions of the country. Damage to these halls represents the loss not only of physical structures but also of the functional environment in which the history of Iranian diplomacy unfolded.

According to Babaei, the palace museum housed "the most significant artistic achievements of many centuries of Iranian art." Manuscript collections, photo archives, examples of lacquer painting, and court jewelry — all of this was concentrated in a complex that was caught in the blast zone in the first days of the war.

Palace staff apparently anticipated the risk: according to Mehr News Agency, some of the exhibits were evacuated to storage before the strikes. This move likely saved part of the movable collection. But the walls, ceilings, and built-in mosaics — the very essence of the Golestan — are not being moved.