Golestan Palace has finally announced that its most historical doorway will reopen after decades in May 2021.
Bab-e A’ali or Sublime Porte is on the eastern side of Golestan Complex, which is adjacent to the royal citadel of Tehran and has been closed for more than 60 years. In its working time, it was a door for the Cabinet members to enter the Palace
In 2014, Ahmad Masjed-Jamie, the then chairman of the Tehran City Council, entered Golestan Palace during his tour of Tehran from Bab-e A’ali, so that it might be an excuse to reopen it.
The Deputy Minister of Cultural Heritage argued that the reopening of the door would make it harder to protect Golestan Complex. In 2017, they announced that Bab-e A’ali would become the Golestan Palace archive museum.
In late 2019, the municipality of Tehran’s 12th district announced the reopening of Bab-e A’ali, that tourists and visitors could enter Golestan Palace from Naser Khosrow Street. This time the pandemic stopped it
Afarin Emami, the director of the Golestan Complex, a UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE site has announced that Bab-e A’ali, the most historic door of the palace, is scheduled to open in May 2021, coinciding with Cultural Heritage Week.
Emami said that reopening Bab-e A’ali of the complex has been the subject of many meetings and its advantages and disadvantages were examined many times and now we are ready to reopen.
She mentioned that there was a lot of work to be done, such as building infrastructure for tourism, setting up an e-ticketing system and renovating the building. These are almost done and the ticket sales infrastructure is ready.
Emami reported that with the help of the municipality of District 12, they were also able to repair the Shams-ol Emareh clock in Golestan Palace so that its bell rang again and resonated in the area.