The
National Museum of Iran (in
Persian: موزه ملی ايران
Mūze-ye Millī-ye Irān, or موزه ایران باستان
Muze-ye Irân-e Bâstân, "Museum of Ancient Iran") is an
archeological and
historical museum located in
Tehran. It preserves ancient
Persian antiquities including pottery vessels, metal objects, books, coins etc. It was inaugurated in 1937.
The museum consists of two buildings. Building One is dedicated to the pre-Islamic collection, while Building Two contains post-Islamic artifacts.
Building One consists of three halls. The three halls contain artifacts from the lower, middle, and upper
Paleolithic, as well as the
Neolithic,
Chalcolithic, early and late
Bronze Age, and
Iron Ages I-III, through the
Median,
Achaemenid,
Seleucid,
Parthian, and
Sassanid periods.
The post-
Islamic part of the museum was inaugurated in 1996 and consists of three floors. It contains various pieces of pottery, textiles, texts, artworks, astrolabes, and adobe
calligraphy from
Iran's 1,400-year Islamic history.
The original museum (Building One) was designed by
Andre Godard, a
French architect. It is located in central
Tehran.
Plans are underway for the construction of a new building, as the current one lacks the capacity and standards for preserving all of Iran's excavated treasures.
There are a number of research departments in the museum, including the
Paleolithic Department, Center for
Achaemenid Research, and Center for Ceramic Studies.
Collections
The oldest artefact in the museum are from
Kashafrud,
Darband and
Ganj Par, sites that date back to the
Lower Paleolithic period.
Mousterian stone tools made by
Neanderthals are also on display in in the first hall. The most important Upper Paleolithic tools are from the
Yafteh Cave, dating back approximately 30,000-35,000 years. There are also 9,000 year old human and animal figurines from Teppe Sarab in
Kermanshah Province among the many other ancient artifacts.
Some of the museum's permanent collections are routinely loaned to other notable museums such as the
British Museum in
London.
See also
