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During my experience in urban management, the Heaven’s Gate was one of the most difficult and challenging projects I managed to handle in 2011. This statue was supposed to replace the former five-fingered statue of Panzade Khordad Square (previously known as Zed Square) that made it more difficult for us. Zed Square was one of the most important squares of Mashhad due to its identity-making and nostalgic qualities, and its destruction had greatly led to public dissatisfaction. However this dissatisfaction still remains. It was said by local managers that one of the reasons for removing the previous element was the obstacle it provided to the view of the holy shrine of Imam Reza and this had to be considered in the new proposed statue. After consulting with a group of sculptors, Mr. Mohammad Salarian proposed the concept of this statue. This element shows the figure of a hunter kneeling in front of the holy shrine of Imam Reza and humbly greets him and presents his bow to Imam which is metaphoric in our culture.
The new statue is made of steel sheets and consisted of three plans as below: in the first plan a sitting person is 5.5 meters high, the second plan is a frame with a height of 7.70 meters high and two wings of 4.08 meters, and the third plan is another frame with a height of 10.5 meters. Despite the rising objections during the creation of the statue (the reasons were the same as before); the statue was finally placed and became part of the identity of this square for many years. Although being recently replaced as a result of subway construction, it is moved to Kooh Park of Mashhad
