The site was not destroyed like Persepolis after the conquest of Alexander the Great. But its gradual abandonment meant that the stones of the palaces served as building materials for the inhabitants of the surrounding villages.
Only the tomb of Cyrus II was spared from destruction.
Alexandre paid homage to his remains during his visit to the city. The Muslim attackers respected the burial place of Solomon’s mother, the Prophet, which is there according to the local legends.
Archaeological excavations have brought to light the water canals over most of the site, which shows the existence of a large garden, a Royal Garden. These are the oldest Persian gardens, which served as a model for the famous Iranian gardens, “Pairi-Faeza” origin of the word paradise.
From the entrance to the site, you can see the famous tomb, enthroned in the middle of an esplanade, a double-roofed building on a stepped plinth. Some shuttles take you to the end of the site to visit the palaces, which are in deplorable condition today. There is a cubic tower of which only one side remains, built according to the same architecture as the Kaabeh-Zartosht in Naghshe Rostam.
At the “Entrance Palace” , on the sides of a door, a half-man, half-god figure with various symbols is represented. Some historians take it for a representation of Cyrus, without any certainty.