TEHRAN -- Iranian authorities are moving ahead with plans to transform Tol-e Ajori, one of the most significant archaeological discoveries in the Persepolis landscape in recent decades, into a site museum following the completion of excavations and the next phase of conservation work.
Located about 3km west of Persepolis in Iran’s Fars province, Tol-e Ajori is an Early Achaemenid monumental gateway uncovered by a joint Iranian-Italian archaeological mission led by Alireza Askari Chaverdi of the University of Shiraz and Pierfrancesco Callieri of the University of Bologna. 
Archaeologists believe the structure formed part of the earliest ceremonial complex associated with the foundation of Parsa, the royal city later monumentalized as Persepolis.
The monument, measuring at least 30 meters square, is remarkable for its extensive use of glazed bricks and its striking architectural relationship to Babylon’s Ishtar Gate. 
Researchers describe it not simply as influenced by Babylonian architecture but as a close adaptation of the famous gateway, reproducing its glazed-brick decorative program, including reliefs of bulls and the mythological mushkhushshu dragon. The discovery has been described as one of the most important in Near Eastern archaeology in recent decades.
According to Askari Chaverdi, archaeological excavations at the site have now concluded, and conservation proposals have been submitted to Italian specialists involved in the long-running collaborative project. 
The next phase will focus on structural engineering, the construction of a protective shelter and the creation of visitor infrastructure that will allow public access while safeguarding the monument.
The Fars Provincial Directorate of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts said it is working with the Fars Construction Engineering Organization on structural design, visitor circulation and architectural lighting as part of the site’s conversion into a museum-quality archaeological attraction.
The planned site museum builds on more than a decade of Iranian-Italian archaeological collaboration, which has fundamentally reshaped scholars’ understanding of the earliest phase of Achaemenid imperial architecture. 
Rather than belonging to the later building program of Darius I, Tol-e Ajori is now widely interpreted as dating to the reign of Cyrus the Great or the earliest years following his conquest of Babylon in 539 BC, providing rare evidence for the formative stages of the Achaemenid capital before the construction of Persepolis itself.