A 29-foot bronze statue of Cyrus the Great now stands in Midtown Atlanta, towering over a newly dedicated green space at 17th and State streets called Pardis Park. The bronze figure alone weighs about 8,000 pounds, not counting its limestone base, and it marks the culmination of a years-long effort by members of Atlanta's Iranian community to give the ancient Persian king a permanent home in the city.
The statue was unveiled in October 2026 at a local festival celebrating Iranian art, food and culture, according to WABE. Rostam Zafari, co-founder of the local Iranian diaspora nonprofit Nimruz, spent five years working to find the statue a permanent Atlanta home, per the same report. Zafari told WABE he considers it one of the largest statues of Cyrus erected outside Iran, and separate reporting from Good News Network describes it as now one of the largest Iranian monuments anywhere outside of Iran.
Cyrus the Great founded ancient Persia more than 2,500 years ago and is recognized for his declaration of religious tolerance, WABE's report notes. Zafari said he hopes the statue serves as a symbol of tolerance and understanding between cultures, a sentiment that shaped the push to bring the piece to the city. Atlanta artist Stan Mullins sculpted the massive bronze, and the project took several years and involved more than 40 people to complete, according to the Good News Network account.
A Years-Long Build Lands in a New Paradise
Pardis means “paradise” in Persian, a fitting name for the park now anchored by the towering king. The site sits in Midtown Atlanta, at 17th and State streets, giving the sculpture a prominent public setting rather than a tucked-away corner of the city.
WABE's article, authored by Lisa Rayam with contributions from Lily Oppenheimer, frames the statue as part of a broader effort by Atlanta's Iranian community to establish a lasting cultural landmark. Zafari's description of Cyrus's legacy as one of history's first human-rights charters echoes language long associated with the Cyrus Cylinder, the ancient artifact often tied to the king's reputation for tolerance.
Scholars Note a More Complicated History
That human-rights framing carries an important asterisk among historians. According to material from the Yale Peabody Museum, the idea that the Cyrus Cylinder is a charter of human rights “is something that's relevant in a modern context but would not have been anything that resonated in the ancient past.” The museum's material traces that modern reading to Iran in the 1970s, describing it as part of the country's nation-building project at the time.
Separately, other outlets have reported on a Cyrus the Great statue unveiling at Atlanta's Millennium Gate in October 2023, with Global Atlanta's event listing and FEZANA both citing an October 28 ceremony, while Iran International reported the event took place on October 30. Global Atlanta's listing also noted that the statue and surrounding park were to be dedicated as Nimruz Park. It is not established whether that 2023 statue is the same bronze now standing in Pardis Park, a relocated version of it, or an entirely separate piece.
What is clear is that Atlanta now has a new, towering tribute to the ancient Persian king in a park whose name translates to paradise. For Zafari and the community members who spent years working toward this moment, the statue stands as a public marker of the tolerance they associate with Cyrus's legacy.
