1. Gate (Palace R)
2. Bridge
3. Palace S, audience
4. Palais P, residence (?)
5-6. Pavilions
What allows archaeologists to define a garden in front of Palace P? The pipes that were found allowing the irrigation of the garden and the small pond located on the axis of the river are the arguments put forward.
From an urban planning point of view, the different buildings of Pasargadae are organized around the garden, and define the official royal district
The center is occupied by a rectangular garden of almost 3 ha, defined by stone canals. The outer rectangle measures more than 200 m in length and 162 m in width; an extension to the northwest includes the Palais P.
The inner rectangle, which measures 145 x 112.50 m, is divided into two equal parts by another channel. By restoring a NW-SE path from the middle of the portico of Palais P, the garden would then be divided into four parts.
In this hypothesis, we can see the ancestor of the Persian chahār bāgh (“four gardens”) which will be the mark of the gardens of the Iranian world, royal or noble, until the modern era (Stronach 1989). According to recent research, the space developed into a park is certainly larger. It extended well beyond the two hypostyle constructions with porticos and the two equally hypostyle pavilions, going at least as far as the now dry watercourse towards the monumental Gate to the east. Ultimately, it was the entire flat part of the site which constituted the royal park.
