The Shush Castle
The Shush Castle also is known as Acropolis of Susa or the French Castle was constructed by French archaeologist Jean-Marie Jacques de Morgan in the late 1890s as a secure base for archaeological studies and excavation in the area. Built by local masons on the ruins of the ancient city of Susa with bricks taken from two archaeological sites, the Achaemenid Darius palace, and the Elamite Choqazanbil ziggurat, the Castle is similar to medieval monuments in France. The structure was built atop a hill which may contain other pre-historic remnants. As a museum, it was famous for holding a cuneiform tablet inscribed with the Code of Hammurabi which, however, is now on display in the Louvre Museum.
The Apadana palace
The palace was built on the remains of the Elamite hillock by the order of the Achaemenid king, Darius the Great as his favorite winter palace around 515-521 BC. According to a foundation tablet discovered in Apadana, Darius the grate had described how all nations of his empire contributed to the building and how the palace was constructed with the craftsmen and raw materials gathered from various parts of his empire. Construction of the palace continued under his son, Xerxes. The palace consists of a royal palace, an attendance hall, a monumental gate, 4 courts, and a covered porch. The palace is built resembling Persepolis with Persian columns. The Apadana Palace was destroyed by fire during the reign of Artaxerxes I. The restoring of the site was completed during the reign of his grandson Artaxerxes II (404-358 BCE). The palace was plundered and destroyed by the Alexander the Great in r 330 BC.
Shush Museum
The spectacular Susa museum is built on the way to the ancient castle of Susa with an area of 550 square meters in a garden. The building was constructed using bricks from Chogha Zanbil and Susa excavations. It is located on the side of the ancient Susa Castle facing the shrine of the Prophet Daniel. As one of the most important museums of ancient Iran, it exhibits valuable works of various historical periods from the Proto-Elamite period (3200 – 2700 BC) to the Islamic era in the 7th century in its six halls. These works consist of sculptures and artifacts found in the neighboring archeological sites, statues of gods a giant double-headed bull from the Apadana Castle, clay masks from Haft Tappeh site, the replica of colorful mosaics (the originals are in the Louvre), and clay wall decorations. In addition, the Susa museum exhibits items excavated in Chogha Zanbil and Susa excavations such as clay pots, vessels, oil lamps, glazed clay, daggers, swords, spearheads, clay coffins, statues of Elamite Gods and Elamite funerary artifacts. The museum also holds tile inscriptions in Acadian, Elamite, Syriac, Aramaic, Pahlavi and Old Persian. Some of the statues and artifacts are exhibited in the courtyard of the museum.
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