UNESCO Recognizes the Cyrus Cylinder: a resolution entitled “Cyrus Cylinder: An Early Charter of Human Rights and Cultural Diversity” is adopted at the 43rd session of the UNESCO General Conference in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on November 6, 2025,
The document highlights the historical and spiritual significance of the Cyrus Cylinder as one of the earliest humanistic texts promoting the values of freedom of conscience, respect for cultural diversity, and peaceful coexistence.
UNESCO’s General Conference, held every two years, brings together representatives from 194 member states to deliberate on global cooperation in education, science, culture, and communication. The 43rd session, hosted by Uzbekistan, covered a broad agenda from AI ethics and cultural heritage protection to intercultural dialogue and sustainable development.
The adoption of this resolution makes a valuable contribution to the strengthening of universal human values, the promotion of mutual understanding among civilizations, and the advancement of intercultural dialogue within UNESCO. We will update this page as soon as the official resolution is published.
Why the Cyrus Cylinder Still Matters
UNESCO Recognizes the Cyrus Cylinder within its framework, far beyond archaeology.
It confirms what Leadership by Cyrus the Great presents through Xenophon’s Cyropaedia: that great leadership begins with respect for human dignity, tolerance, and justice.
Cyrus did not lead through fear or conquest alone. He united diverse nations by honoring their faiths, customs, and languages, showing that strength grounded in fairness endures longer than power built on oppression.
This is why the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cyropaedia complement each other, the first carved in clay, the second written in philosophy, both expressing a single truth: that humanity’s highest form of leadership is moral leadership.
By elevating this ancient charter at an international forum devoted to peace and cooperation, UNESCO has reaffirmed that lesson.
Respect for human dignity and cultural diversity is not only the foundation of lasting peace, it is the foundation of true leadership.
The Shah’s Global Legacy in Motion
The recognition of the Cyrus Cylinder by UNESCO in 2025 fulfills a vision first expressed by the Shah of Iran, who saw in Cyrus the Great not only the founder of the Persian Empire but also the originator of humanity’s moral conscience.
The Shah’s Vision in the 1960s
In the late 1960s, as Iran entered a period of rapid modernization and international prominence, the Shah began describing the Cyrus Cylinder as “the first charter of human rights.” His goal was to remind the modern world that Persian civilization placed justice, mercy, and freedom at the heart of governance long before such ideas appeared elsewhere.
That phrase, “the first human rights charter,” was born from a desire to reconnect Iran’s modern identity with its ancient ethical roots.
A Celebration of Civilization
In 1971, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi did not simply commemorate an empire. He revived the moral and political ideals of Cyrus the Great and presented them anew to the modern world. The occasion was the 2,500th Anniversary of the Founding of the Persian Empire, a monumental celebration that transformed Persepolis, the ancient ceremonial capital of Cyrus’s successors, into a living stage for world history.
The World Comes to Persepolis
The ceremonies drew an unprecedented gathering of world leaders.
Sixty-two heads of state and government were represented, including U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew, Prince Philip and Princess Anne of the United Kingdom, French Prime Minister Jacques Chaban-Delmas, President Nikolai Podgorny of the Soviet Union, the King and Queen of Belgium, the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco, President Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia, and many more.
For three days, Persepolis stood at the center of world attention, a symbol of civilization’s continuity from ancient Persia to the modern era.
The Shah’s Historic Speech at Pasargadae
The ceremonies began at Pasargadae, the burial site of Cyrus the Great, where the Shah delivered one of the most memorable speeches of his reign. Standing before the simple stone tomb, he spoke directly to the spirit of Cyrus across twenty-five centuries:
“Sleep in peace, Cyrus, for we are awake and we will always stay awake to preserve your immortal heritage. You dreamed of justice for your people and for all men. We, your descendants, are determined to remain faithful to that dream.”
Those words captured the essence of the Shah’s vision. He saw himself not as a ruler commemorating the past, but as a leader continuing a moral legacy that had shaped human civilization. The celebration at Persepolis was not a festival of nostalgia. It was a declaration that the ethical and humanitarian principles born in ancient Iran still guided the conscience of the world.
From Pasargadae to the United Nations
In the weeks that followed, this message moved from the heart of Iran to the international stage. On October 14, 1971, the Shah’s sister, Princess Ashraf Pahlavi, representing him as Iran’s delegate to the United Nations, presented a replica of the Cyrus Cylinder to Secretary-General U Thant in a formal ceremony at UN Headquarters in New York.
The gift was received with deep appreciation. U Thant spoke of Cyrus’s timeless message and of its harmony with the United Nations Charter.
The Cylinder took its place in the UN’s Visitors Lobby, where it remains today, as a silent ambassador of the Shah’s belief that ancient Persian values align with universal human ideals.
The Enduring Voice of Cyrus
That gesture completed what the Persepolis ceremonies had begun. It carried the voice of Cyrus from Pasargadae to New York and linked the oldest declaration of human freedom to the modern conscience of the world. Every serious discussion, academic or diplomatic, about the Cyrus Charter traces back to that act of vision. It was the Shah who first planted the idea that the moral teachings of Cyrus belong not to one nation but to all humanity.
When UNESCO adopted its November 6, 2025 resolution in Samarkand, it was, in truth, acknowledging the legacy the Shah had initiated more than fifty years earlier. The recognition by UNESCO stands as a confirmation of a truth first spoken at Persepolis and Pasargadae. The values of Cyrus the Great, revived and shared with the world by Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, remain one of civilization’s purest expressions of human dignity and freedom. The world has, in many ways, caught up with the Shah’s vision: that freedom, diversity, and coexistence are the true emblems of civilization.
The Long Echo
Over the decades that followed, exhibitions at the British Museum, Smithsonian Institution, and National Museum of Iran drew millions to see what the Shah had elevated from artifact to symbol.
Even as historians debated terminology, the idea persisted: Cyrus’s message belongs to all humanity.
The Living Philosophy of Cyrus
The Shah’s revival of Cyrus’s ideals in 1971 was not only a historical gesture but also a philosophical one. In bringing the spirit of Cyrus before the world, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi echoed the same image of leadership described by Xenophon in the Cyropaedia: a ruler guided by wisdom, justice, and humanity. The Shah saw in Cyrus the model of the enlightened sovereign, a leader who built unity not through fear, but through respect and inclusion.
This same spirit is captured in Leadership by Cyrus the Great, which reveals how Cyrus inspired loyalty through fairness, won allies through integrity, and transformed power into moral authority. The Shah’s tribute at Pasargadae and his message to the United Nations were both rooted in this timeless philosophy of leadership. By aligning Iran’s modern identity with the virtues of Cyrus as portrayed by Xenophon, he reintroduced to the world a truth that remains relevant to every age: that leadership without humanity is tyranny, and that the greatest rulers are those who elevate both their people and their principles.
The Legacy of a Visionary
The story of the Cyrus Cylinder is now inseparable from the story of the Shah’s foresight.
He saw in a 2,500-year-old inscription not only a relic of empire but a moral compass for modern governance.
UNESCO’s 2025 resolution stands as a tribute to that insight, a bridge connecting Persia’s ancient wisdom to today’s global conscience.
A Legacy That Transcends Time
When UNESCO recognized the Cyrus Cylinder in 2025, it did more than honor an artifact. It completed a historical and moral continuum that began with Cyrus the Great, was renewed by Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, and now belongs to the shared conscience of humanity. The values written in clay twenty-five centuries ago, spoken again at Pasargadae in 1971, and affirmed at Samarkand in 2025, together define a single message: that true power lies in justice, compassion, and the unity of nations.
This is the same message that resonates through the Cyropaedia and through Leadership by Cyrus the Great. It reminds the modern world that leadership at its highest form is not domination, but the art of serving humanity through wisdom and integrity. In recognizing Cyrus, the world also recognizes the enduring Iranian contribution to civilization, a contribution that began with one visionary king and was reawakened by another.
At the 43rd session of the UNESCO General Conference in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, a resolution entitled “Cyrus Cylinder: An Early Charter of Human Rights and Cultural Diversity” was adopted, recognizing the Cyrus Cylinder as an early charter of Human Rights, if not the first charter of this kind.
It was first recognized in 1971 by the General Secretary of the United Nations in New York through acceptance of the replicate of the Cylinder from the Shah of Iran and by permanently installing it in the entrance hall of the UN building in NYC. More recently, on November 6th, 2025, UNESCO recognized the same during its 43rd session of the General Conference in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
In 1971, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi revived the moral and political ideals of Cyrus the Great and presented them to the modern world. The occasion was the 2,500th Anniversary of the Founding of the Persian Empire, a monumental celebration that transformed Persepolis, the ancient ceremonial capital of Cyrus’s successors, into a living stage for world history.