Naqsh-e-Jahan Square in Isfahan Damaged After Strike Hits Safavid-Era Dawlatkhaneh Complex
A strike on Isfahan’s provincial governorate building has damaged heritage sites within the 17th-century Naqsh-e-Jahan Square, one of Iran’s most important ensembles of Safavid-era architecture and a centerpiece of the city’s historic core.
The impact was reported in the Dawlatkhaneh complex, a 17th-century precinct tied to the Safavid court and located within the dense urban fabric of central Isfahan. The area is not an isolated monument zone: it sits amid neighborhoods and commercial corridors where historic structures remain woven into daily life.
Isfahan, roughly a five-hour drive from Tehran, is widely regarded as a high point of Iranian art and architecture. Much of the city’s celebrated built environment took shape under the Safavid dynasty (1501–1736), a period of political consolidation and cultural revival after the disruptions of the Mongol and Timurid invasions. Its bridges, palaces, bazaars, and religious buildings, many still in active use, have made the city both a living heritage landscape and, in moments of conflict, a vulnerable one.
Among the sites referenced in connection with the affected area are structures associated with the former royal stables and court life, including spaces originally used to store equestrian equipment and harnesses. The Dawlatkhaneh precinct also encompasses Ashraf Hall, described as a highly decorative residential structure linked to the Safavid court, and the nearby 15th-century Teymouri Hall, a Timurid-era building later repurposed as the Natural History Museum.
The damage comes amid intensifying hostilities following US-Israeli strikes that began on February 28 and subsequent retaliatory Iranian attacks. Iranian authorities had already begun taking protective measures for museum collections in anticipation of potential escalation, moving objects to more secure locations. Officials said similar precautions were implemented for museum holdings from the Rakeb-Khaneh pavilion.
As concerns widen beyond Isfahan, attention has also turned to other heritage sites across the country. The Flak-ol-Aflak Ciadel sits in the historic Khorramabad Valley, a landscape associated with more than 65,000 years of human history. The valley’s prehistoric sites were added to the Unesco World Heritage List in 2025, underscoring the breadth of cultural material now at risk.
The latest incident follows another strike reported a week earlier that damaged Golestan Palace, adding to a growing list of cultural sites affected during the conflict.
On Monday, Iran’s ministry of cultural heritage, tourism and handicrafts issued a statement through local media calling on Unesco, the United Nations, and other international bodies to activate legal and monitoring mechanisms designed to protect cultural heritage during armed conflict. The ministry also urged the dispatch of independent experts, observers, and journalists to assess damage and evaluate the extent of harm.
Cultural property is protected under international law, including the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, with its enhanced protection mechanism, and the 1972 Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.
Unesco did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
The human toll continues to rise across the region. The Iranian Red Crescent Society said more than 1,250 Iranians have been killed so far. US Central Command reported seven US servicemen killed. In Lebanon, Israeli strikes have killed at least 400 people and displaced almost 700,000, according to authorities; at least 11 people have reportedly been killed in Israel. A New York Times tally said at least 12 civilians were killed in attacks across the Emirates.
The US-Israeli assault and the killing of Khamenei have also triggered protests in Pakistan, Bahrain, and Iraq, including attempts to attack US diplomatic sites, with at least 22 fatalities reported in Pakistan alone. The US has closed a number of embassies in the region and ordered “non-emergency US government employees and US government employee family members” to leave Saudi Arabia, citing rising security risks.
For heritage professionals, the damage in Isfahan sharpens a familiar dilemma: how to safeguard irreplaceable sites that are inseparable from the life of the city around them, even as the conflict’s trajectory remains uncertain.
