‘I am Cyrus, the Achaemenid King’ reads the cunieform inscription on a pillar of Cyrus' palace complex. The minimal ruins of what must have been a grand set of structures lie about 1km north of the king's tomb. Archaeologists note the unusual plan of the palace with its central hall of 30 columns (the stumps of which remain), and its two great opposing verandahs but it takes a bit of imagination to reassemble the fallen masonry.
About 250m to the southeast is the rectangular Audience Palace, which once had an 18m-high hypostyle hall surrounded by smaller balconies. One of the eight white limestone columns has been reconstructed on a rare black limestone plinth.
