Images of Ruins as Metaphorical Places of Transformation.The Case of Persepolis

Since the second half of the 19th century, the photographical documentation of the Middle East intensified and contributed to the support of an 'Orientalist vision' in the Western world. From the earliest technical experiments, the study of ruins was inextricably linked to the medium's development, although still in a chaotic or nuanced form, because photography before creating new epistemologies 'regenerated' existing ideas and images of the Orient. The historical and cultural experiences of ancient sites (Persepolis, Palmyra, Jerusalem and so on) have acquired a plethora of meanings over time that have focused on the relationship between relics and time, the profane time of historical memory and sacred time, namely symbolical and mythological. In this framework, Persepolis has given birth to a kind of image-dream, becoming the site of excellence of an ideological vision, a promising image of what is going to materialise into a vision for future generations.