Safeguarding and Retrofitting of the Western Eivan of the Takht-e Soleyman, Iran

Abstract

The Western Eivan is a part of the World Heritage Site of Takht-e Soleyman in Iran. The ruins of the large hall show grave structural damages. The structure is built of brick work, natural stone masonry and gypsum based mortar. In the last two years several works were executed like archeological soundings, documentation of the existing historic building substance, performance of a 3 D laser scan, materials and damage mapping as well as taking of material samples and performance and supporting of a gypsum burning process. Beyond that it was developed a concept for the stabilization of the north wall of the Eivan. At the building site two test walls were designed and drilling and grouting technology as well as the developed grout was tested. In 2017 the buttress on the north side of the ruin was safeguarded and retrofitted with the selected techniques. The presented paper highlights the preliminary research and the safeguarding approach for the iconic ruin.