Unveiling of a statue inspired by the Cyrus Cylinder in Los Angeles
On July 4th, coinciding with the United States Independence Day celebrations, the city of Los Angeles witnessed the unveiling of a statue and a ceremony related to it; a statue called Liberty, whose shape and idea, according to its designers, were inspired by the Charter of Cyrus the Great.
The Culture Foundation, an Iranian-American nonprofit that organized the construction of this work, writes on its website about the statue that it now serves as America's "West Coast Statue of Liberty."
Ali Razi, founder and chairman of the board of directors of the Culture Foundation, said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that the Cyrus Cylinder, which inspired this work, has a special symbolic value for American Independence Day.
He explains that Cyrus the Achaemenid was the first to build a multicultural empire based on religious freedom and "gave people the freedom to follow their religions instead of killing and plundering."
The designer of this statue is British artist Cecil Belmond, whose design was selected from among 300 other designs competing for the $2.2 million budget to build the statue.
According to Mr. Belmond, the design, inspired by the charter of Cyrus the Great, "is a symbol of the eternal values of freedom and tolerance."
Cecil Belmond explains that his Statue of Liberty was designed so that those driving down Santa Monica Boulevard would experience the shapes on it as moving and changing writing as they looked at the artwork.
According to the Farhang Foundation's website, the foundation spent four years financing this work and obtaining the necessary permits from the Los Angeles City Hall, and most of the cost of this work was covered by donations from volunteers.
According to the Culture Foundation, "more than a million people" from across the United States and 50 other countries have donated money to the project.
The Statue of Liberty is located in the middle of Santa Monica Boulevard, near the entrance to the Beverly Hills neighborhood. According to the Los Angeles Times, the area is home to an estimated half a million Iranian-American citizens, making it the largest Iranian diaspora outside of Iran.
According to the Los Angeles Times, thousands of people attended the unveiling ceremony of the Statue of Liberty, and the ceremony was accompanied by music and Iranian food.
This work, which weighs about 9,000 kilograms, is placed on a travertine base and all of its parts were made entirely in the United States.
Source: Radio Farda
