Sassanid Museum of Bishapur

Bishapur Museum was established in 1315 SH by Professor Roman Ghirshman, the Ukranian-born French archaeologist. The Sassanid museum in Bishapur is one of the museums of Kazeroun (a city in the west of Fars) in the historical city of Bishapur.  The reason for giving the name of Sassanid to this museum is the existence of stones, objects and inscriptions dating back to Sassanid empire in Iran. There are several ancient cities in Iran especially in the area of southwest of Iran that their construction is attributed to two first kings of Sassanid empire, Ardeshir and Shapur. In addition to the historical findings, what important about this city is the symmetrical geometry considered in the overall form of the city and constructing its streets indicating the preparation of careful plans and designs before the construction. Bishapur city was constructed by the order of Shapur I Sassanid, the second king of Sassanid dynasty and its construction date is related to 262 AD, according to the Pahlavi inscription.

Bishapur is itself a huge museum and it is among the scarce ancient cities the history of which has been carved on a petroglyph. The city was residential until the seventh century AH and it was later ruined. Most of the materials kept in the museum of bishapur are related to Sassanid excavated from Bishapur historical city. The museum that was established by Ghrishman was later ruined because of the low space and it was rebuilt in 1388 SH in a land with about 700 square meters built-up area.

The museum includes a library, exhibition hall, restoration studio, treasury and galleries. Interesting among the materials kept in this museum are decorative stucco, the stucco fragments of walls and niches, bust of Sassanid king, the scripted cover of ossuary, date, the depiction of Sassanid man with a Barsom in his hand, the wall of a palace attributed to Valerian in Bishapur, various plaster busts, statues and reliefs, a copper dish, Sassanid and Islamic coins, scripted gravestones and many of large stone and clay wares and vats. The ancient city of Bishapur was first inscribed on the List of Iran National Heritages in 1310 SH and finally, it was included in UNESCO World Heritage List in 1397 SH.