A number of buildings at Persepolis - and other Achaemenid sites - were decorated on the outside by carved stone reliefs. Important casts of the Persepolis reliefs were made in 1892 during an expedition by the philanthropist and explorer Herbert Weld-Blundell. They have become an essential record because the originals have subsequently sustained damage through weathering and some details are now preserved better in the casts than in the originals. The only complete set of casts to survive today is in the British Museum.

The Apadana has some of the finest and best known reliefs; they can be found on the façades and staircases of the north and east sides of the building. They show on one side 23 delegates from all around the Persian Empire bringing presents and tribute, and on the other side rows of Median and Persian nobles, guards and attendants.