Iran: The Greatest Party In History
- Davit Grigoryan
- Jun 20, 2024
- 9 min read
Updated: Feb 13
In 1971, Iran threw an extravagant and exclusive party to commemorate the 2500th anniversary of the Persian empire. The party had a grandeur never seen before in the world's recorded history. It had delicious food from the world's best restaurant, exquisite drinks, luxurious accommodations, medieval European style decorations, and more importantly - the party had the most decorated guestlist - heads of state from 65 different countries, emperors, kings, and queens, princes and princesses, sheiks, sultans, and business figures of all kinds from 5 different continents.
The venue of the event was not some ancient castle or a seven-star hotel, instead, everything was organized from scratch, in the middle of a desert, by building plastic tents.
The cost of all of this? Not a million dollars; Not a billion dollars; this party almost cost a dynasty. It proved to be a stepping stone for the rise of the Iranian revolution and the fall of the Iranian Monarchy that changed the country forever.
"King of Kings" - The Story of Pahlavi's Ascension to the Throne
Iran in the 60s was a constitutional monarchy ruled by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, also called the "King of Kings". The Shah was one of the richest men in the world and he had absolute power in the government. He could appoint a prime minister, dissolve the parliament, raise an army, declare war, and conclude a peace. His words meant law and he was not willing to share his powers with anyone. 17 years prior the Shah toppled a democratic popular prime minister in a coup orchestrated by American and British forces because the Shah believed that the prime minister was getting too powerful.
Being the son of a former king the Shah had only seen luxury in his life. He had studied in Switzerland and was very fond of Western culture and modern lifestyle. He claimed that he wanted to make Iran a more modern and free society by empowering women and the poor. But this was largely refuted as propaganda because on the other side, the Shah had been sacking free speech and punishing every voice of dissent against his rule. There were no civil liberties in the country. The Shah's regime had the highest number of political prisoners and the highest rate of death penalties in the world. His secret police kidnapped and murdered people at their will.
Despite being an oil-rich state the socio-economic condition of the country was bad. Almost half of the population lived below poverty, cities lacked basic infrastructure and rural areas had an acute shortage of water, medical facilities, and educational institutions. Iran needed some basic reforms to elevate the standards of living, but the Shah had something else on his mind.
Why did Mohammad Reza Pahlavi decide to organize a party?
One day the Shah had this idea that he should invite the world's most elite people: emperors, kings, presidents, and sheikhs to Iran to throw a super extravagant exclusive party for them. He believed that this multi-day event would boost Iran's global image. It would show the world what a magnificent country it had been and how it's reviving its lost glory, its lost position as a superpower.
The occasion couldn't have been better, it was the 2500th anniversary of the foundation of the glorious Persian Empire by Cyrus The Great. The Shah saw this as a golden opportunity to portray himself as Iran's new Cyrus. An organizing committee was quickly set up, invitations were sent to people around the world and preparations for the event kicked off more than a year in advance.
Preparing the venue for the party
The biggest hurdle was that Iran lacked the infrastructure, that was required to host such a marvelous event. They didn't have grand hotels or luxurious castles to keep their elite guests.
So after much consideration and going through different options, they chose a desert: the dry dusty desolate patch of lands of the ancient city of Persepolis. It was decided that a royal village would be set up in these deserts using tents, but first, they would turn these deserts into a forest. They imported an incredible number of trees, around 15,000 trees, and an equal number of flowering plants were flown in to be planted on-site. Iran was already suffering from an acute water shortage so planting trees in the desert for a three-day event was an insane idea, but the Shah wanted to give his guests a surreal experience.
The deserted site was infested with poisonous snakes and scorpions whose sting could kill the guests, so they sprayed chemicals over the 30-kilometer area and removed a truckload of creepy crawlies. They even found some unknown species of reptiles which were then sent to universities for research purposes.
To populate the newly made forest the Shah imported 50 000 songbirds from Europe and released them on the site. Twenty thousand sparrows were brought in from Spain most of which died within a few days, because of the lack of water and the adverse climate. At noon the temperatures of the site topped 40 degrees Celsius and at night they dropped below zero. The Shah also built a golf course in the desert with bunkers, greens, and fairways.
The Shah outsourced most of the work to renowned European companies. To build the royal tent city the Shah hired the famous Jansen company from Paris. The Jansen came up with a plan to build air-conditioned luxury suites and draped them with traditional Persian cloth to make them look like tents. Each one of these lavishly furnished tents had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a sitting room, and a kitchen with a cook and servers. Hundreds of French architects interior designers and craftsmen worked for over a year to build these tents on an airfield outside Paris. They were then transported to Persepolis in hundreds of airplanes to be assembled on-site.
On the site, 50 tents were arranged along five avenues radiating out from a central fountain, representing five continents of the world. In total, the tent city covered 160 acres of land and had two bigger tents: the tent of honor for the reception of the dignitaries and the banqueting hall.
Food and drinks for a gala reception
The Shah signed a deal with the famous Maxim's de Paris for food. Based in Paris Maxim's was considered the best restaurant in the world at the time and the party got even more attention after this deal was made. Maxim's closed their restaurants for almost two weeks and sent all their equipment, chefs, waiters, and other staff to Persepolis 10 days in advance. 18 tons of food was flown in all again from Paris. 380.000 eggs, 2700 kilograms of beef, and 1280 kilograms of flour among other things.
The legendary hotelier Max Blouet came out of retirement to supervise the banquet. The menu was initially kept a closely guarded secret, but then it got leaked to the press and created a scandal. With hundreds of goods being imported from around the world to this desolate desert site logistics were a big challenge. To facilitate the transportation of goods the Shah built an airfield in Shiraz, 50 kilometers away from the venue site in Persepolis, and a highway connecting these two places. The Iranian Air Force was put to the task of hauling stuff, for almost six months the Imperial Iranian Air Force made repeated trips between Shiraz and Paris, flying goods that were then trucked carefully to Persepolis. They brought 30 tons of kitchen equipment from Paris just for Maxim's for food preparation. During the event, their airplanes brought ice cubes the size of a garage.
Event Security
The event would be the biggest gathering of world leaders and monarchs in one place and the Shah was already facing people's anger and resentment for many reasons. There were many serious acts of violence during the time, so ensuring security was a big challenge. The Shah deployed his secret police and troops, 65000 of them to protect a few hundred guests. There were security checkpoints every few meters. There was a danger that someone might poison the food so they made the banqueting hall the most guarded place on the site. Only a few people had access to it. Chefs and servers were thoroughly vetted and additional servers were brought in from Switzerland.
This wasn't enough so the Shah went a step further. He locked down Iran's border for the entire duration of the event, so no one could enter or leave the country except for the guests. All universities and schools were closed. The Shah's secret police raided houses and captured thousands of young men on suspicion. All students were dismantled and student leaders were locked behind bars, some of them were even captured months in advance.
"Party of the Century" - A Luxurious Reception in Persepolis
October 14, 1971, on the morning of the first day news media from around the world flocked to the ancient city of Persepolis to see the unfolding of this grand promise. The Western democracies and the countries of the Soviet bloc did their best to be present at the event. President Nixon had initially planned to attend, but the Secret Service didn't give him security clearance so he sent Vice President Spiro Agnew. From the soviet side chairman of the presidium, Nicolai Padgorny joined the party. Austria, Finland, and Switzerland were represented by their heads of state. France, Italy, and South Korea by their prime ministers.
Presidents of Bulgaria, Brazil, Turkey, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Lebanon, and India were part of the party.
However, the focus and attention were understandably on royalty. Never could anyone see so many kings queens princes and princesses all gathered in one place. The emperor of Ethiopia, the royal couples of Denmark, Belgium, Nepal, and Greece, the kings of Jordan, Norway, and Lesotho, and the emirs of Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, and Abu Dhabi. Queen Elizabeth did not attend the party because the royal house did not want to be in a position where their monarch was seen as paying homage to the king of kings.
The Shah went to Shiraz himself to receive the more important guests. He had ordered 250 bulletproof limousines just to transport his guests from the airfield in Shiraz to the venue site in Persepolis. The celebration started with a simple ceremony at the tomb of Cyrus The Great. Accompanied by Empress Pharah and Crown Prince Reza, the Shah dressed in his emperor's uniform delivered an emotion-packed eulogy to his illustrious predecessor and vowed that Iranians today would continue to prove worthy heirs of their glorious past. Since most of the European royal families were related to one another they got the opportunity to meet and hang out with each other. They would go to each other's tents and have drinks in the evening. In a separate tent near the heliport, the Shah built a social club to entertain guests in case they got bored. The social club had a reception area, a bar, a restaurant, and even a gambling casino.
On the evening of the first day, the Shah threw an exquisite dinner party for his guests in the banqueting tent which dominated the canvas tent city. Food was served on a 70-meter-long continuous serpentine table with guests sitting on one side. 125 women had spent six months embroidering the tablecloth. The other guests who included ambassadors and the companions of the heads of state sat in groups of 12 at smaller tables. This was arguably the first time in recorded history when rulers from such diverse countries and ideologies had gathered at a cultural event. Needless to say, the table had the most delicious food possible at the time. The menu came in a thick booklet in two languages Persian and French. 600 guests feasted on a menu never to be repeated or forgotten for almost six hours making it the longest and most lavish official banquet in modern history.
Iran being a religiously Islamic country wasn't fond of alcohol, but the Shah's party was drowning in expensive booze. 2500 bottles of champagne, 1,000 bottles of Bordeaux, and 1000 bottles of burgundy to name the specials. Everyone and everything was there but if something was missing from the party then it was the Iranians themselves. To maintain the exclusivity of the party the Shah hadn't invited his ministers. Only a handful of those who were looking after the preparation were present.
"The Fall of an Empire" - The Population Reacts to a Luxurious Party
Keeping other things aside the celebration was successful in itself. The Shah had shown the world how to throw a party. Time magazine called the party "The greatest gathering of the century". For a brief moment, Iran was proud. That did not last for long. The Shah's effort to promote his country and its history was not appreciated. Both in Iran and abroad the Shah was seen as a money squanderer only wishing to show off.
Ayatollah Khomeini an Iranian revolutionary exiled in Iraq called the party a quote "Devil's festival". Ordinary Iranians were shocked by the amount of alcohol consumed at the celebration, by scandalous low-cut dresses, and by the absence of the Iranian public at the actual ceremonies. Speculating the cost Time magazine put the figure at a shocking 100 million dollars, adjusted for inflation that would be roughly 635 million in 2024. The Shah's officials refuted these estimates as outrageously large and announced the celebration expenses at 16.8 million dollars.
The general population was struggling to make ends meet the Shah was throwing a party for his rich friends on an island he had built far from prison and poverty. The Shah lost all the public support by now. Political parties in opposition despite their contrasting ideologies joined hands against the Shah. 3 years after the event the Shah publicly apologized to his people and sought forgiveness for decades of bad decisions, corruption, and cruelty. It was too late.
Iran's popular uprising led to the Islamic revolution of 1979 that ended the rule of the Pahlavi dynasty and the 2.5 millennia of the Persian Empire. The Shah took exile in Egypt where he died a year later.
Commentaires