At 12:00 PM on Saturday, October 28, 2023, in honor of Cyrus the Great Day, you are invited to our unveiling of a monumental statue of Cyrus the Great at the Millennium Gate dedicated to liberty, justice and peace. Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid empire, upon liberating Babylon, freed the slaves, established racial equality and rights for women, declared that all people had the right to choose their own religion and returned their various gods to their shrines. He also helped the Jews build The Second Temple. According to the Book of Isaiah, Cyrus was anointed by God as a messiah for these actions, the only non-Jewish figure to be revered in this capacity. Iranian and Jewish peoples share an ancient bond of friendship that modern Islamic fanaticism has tried (and failed) to destroy. Remembering the past is a powerful perspective for shaping the future; one where diverse peoples and cultures live together in freedom and harmony. 

Cyrus the Great’s decrees were recorded in cuneiform in The Cyrus Cylinder, a baked clay cylinder that is celebrated as the oldest-known declaration of human rights. It is translated into all six official languages of the United Nations and its provisions parallel the first four Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Cyrus the Great was a source of influence for the Barons at Runnymede when drafting Magna Carta and for Thomas Jefferson when he wrote the Constitution of the United States of America.

The statue and the surrounding park will also be dedicated as Nimruz Park in honor of the Iranian people and their cause for freedom against tyranny, and in hopes of a bright future between Iranian and American peoples. This park celebrates and honors champions of human rights from around the world, especially those advocating for a free, democratic, and secular Iran. Nimruz, in Persian, means “midday”, the point at which the sun is at its peak, and the most light shines on the land. Nimruz is also the name of a place in the famous Iranian poet Ferdowsi’s masterpiece called The Shahnameh, or Book of Kings. It is a place where champions gather to protect the realm and all they hold dear against the forces of darkness. May freedom ring all across Iran, and echo the words of Cyrus the Great for generations to come.