10 Top Museums that Must Be Visited in Iran

10 Top Museums that Must Be Visited in Iran

 

While tourism expands the horizon of the mind, a trip in which visiting museums and these valuable and luxurious cultural places is a part of it will extend this horizon far away to a place beyond time and space. Thanks to the history and culture of several thousand years and precious heritage. Iran museums are one of the must-be-visited places. Iran’s civilization and rich culture have led to numerous and diverse museums in various fields like the National Museum, Glassware, Isfahan Seashell Museum, Reza Abbasi Museum, etc. We are going to introduce the most popular and attractive ones in brief.

The National Museum of Iran

It is the oldest and largest ancient immemorial museum in Iran. This museum is substantial in terms of its age and the objects kept in it. It opened in 1937, and the National Museum has undergone many changes during its history. The National Museum of Iran consists of two main parts. The first building is the Museum of Ancient Iran, and the second is the Museum of Archeology and Islamic Art. It is interesting to know that in the Museum of Ancient Iran, works dating from one million to 12,000 years ago are kept. Some objects in the Museum of Ancient Iran date back to the Paleolithic period. 

 

The Museum of Archeology and Islamic Art opened in 1997 in a building inspired by the design of the Sassanid Palace of Bishabur. Many historical treasures of Islamic art from the post-Islamic kingdom period in Iran are put up in this museum. The interesting point about the National Museum of Iran is that the cultural value of this museum is not only due to having a wide collection of historical objects but also because of the way these works are arranged and displayed based on historical timing. They are classified into ten separate research sections. The Paleolithic era, prehistory, historical, Islamic section, restoration section, seal and coin section, pottery section, inscriptions section, osteology section, and library and document center section.

Golestan Palace

The most famous royal palace of Iran is Golestan Palace. The main reason for this fame is the use of this complex by many Iranian kings as the center of the monarchy. Golestan Palace became more significant after Tehran became the capital of Iran, and it was considered the center of governance until the end of the Qajar period. Most of the momentous events that occurred in the history of Iran took place in Golestan Palace. Apart from its historical importance, this museum has displayed the most unique Iranian art. There are 13 buildings in the Golestan complex, which are: Shams-ul-Amara, Hall of Salam, Hall of Mirrors, Iwan Takht-e- Marmar (The Marble Throne), Takht Marmar, Hozkhaneh, Abyaz Palace (Ethnological museum), Khalvat Karim khani, Badgir Mansion, Ivory Hall, Almas Hall, Brilliant Hall and Hozkhaneh of Badgir Mansion.

Saadabad Palace

Saadabad Palace, which houses a collection of Iran museums, was built in Darband, the northernmost point of Tehran. In addition to many palaces, this complex includes several hectares of natural forest, springs, aqueducts, gardens, and rivers. The building of Saadabad Palace dates back to the Qajar period, which was the summer residence of the kings in that period. Mellat Palace Museum, Water Museum, Royal Clothing Museum, Master Hossein Behzad Museum, Royal Kitchen Museum, Omidvar Brothers Museum, Master Farshchian Museum, Green Palace Museum, National Art Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Court Weapons Museum, Miremad calligraphy Inscriptions, and Calligraphy make up the Saadabad collection that could visit.

Glassware and Ceramic Museum of Iran

In 1291 AD, by the order of Ahmad Qavam, nicknamed Qavam al-Sultaneh, a beautiful mansion was built in the middle of a Qajar garden, which years later turned into a treasure of glass and terracotta works related to different cultural periods of Iran. Visiting the Glassware and Ceramic Museum of Iran, everyone praises both the architecture of the mansion and the exquisite museum.

More than 2,000 pieces of historical pottery and glass are kept in Tehran Abgineh Museum. It includes 899 glass and glass objects, 680 pottery works, 242 crystals, and 243 other exquisite objects.

Glass cylinders are one of the most main parts of the Abgineh Museum. It was designed by Austrian designers, and interesting to know that they were adapted from the columns of Persepolis. For this reason, the most valuable works of the Abgineh Museum hold in these cylinders, which belong to the second millennium BC and were discovered at Choghazanbil Temple in Khuzestan province. You can also see the pottery obtained from different places of the country in the halls and many parts of the museum. Among these, we can mention handmade pottery belongs to the Parthian era and is maintained on the first floor.

Isfahan Music Museum

One of the best private museums in Iran is the Isfahan Music Museum, which opened in 2014 with the efforts of two musicians named Mehrdad Jihouni and Shahriar Shokrani. In this unique Iranian museum, more than 300 musical instruments are on display, and visitors are shown how to use and play them.

Vank Cathedral Museum

Vank Church is the largest and most famous church in Iran and the Armenian Cathedral of Isfahan. This church is also known as “Amnaperkich” and is one of the 13 remaining churches in the Jolfa neighborhood of Isfahan from the 17th century. Vank Church is one of the biggest historical and religious attractions in the Jolfa neighborhood and one of the sightseeing places of Isfahan. It was built by Armenian immigrants during the Safavid era of Shah Abbas. Currently, 700 volumes of manuscript books and more than 450 pieces of various objects such as pictures and decrees of kings, antiques, and paintings are stored in this museum.

Carpet Museum

Iran Carpet Museum was built at the request of Farah Pahlavi and opened by her in 1978. In this museum, very stunning carpets from all over Iran, which are the result of the work of famous artists, are displayed. The purpose of establishing this museum considered researching the records, education, and historical quality of the art and craft of carpets, especially Iranian carpets. This museum includes other products such as “Gelim”.

Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art

Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art is considered the main art center in Iran, which started working in 1977. This museum contains the most exhaustive and significant treasures of modern art outside of Europe and North America and is one of the five to 10 most important modern art collections in the world. The Museum of Contemporary Arts also houses a significant and comprehensive collection of modern and contemporary Iranian art. You can see the works of many world-famous artists, including Picasso, Gauguin, and Renoir at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Yazd Water Museum

The history of water in Iran, especially in its central parts, the way people have access to water, the architecture of aqueducts, and the intelligence and genius of the ancestors in the correct use of underground water resources have always been an interesting and admirable part of the history of this land. Yazd Water Museum, which was established in the place of the Yazd Hat Embroidery House (Khane Kolahdoozi), is undoubtedly one of the most interesting and valuable museums in Iran. In this museum, you can see all kinds of tools related to digging aqueducts, instruments for measuring water volume, documents for buying and selling water, manuals of cisterns, water storage containers, old dedication letters related to water sources, and many other things related to water. Also, a hundred-year-old canal passes through this house, there is a well on the roof that draws water from there and then reaches the reservoir in the basement and fills it.

Shiraz Pars Museum 

Pars Museum Garden, also known as Nazar Garden, Nazar Museum, Prince Garden, and Four Seasons. The mansion is one of the must-see places in Shiraz and one of Iran’s museums. This building is popular among the people due to the tomb of Karim Khan Zand. At first, this was a garden belonging to Karim Khan Zand, and after some time an octagonal mansion was constructed in it. Bagh Nazar mansion has been a place for welcoming foreign ambassadors and guests as well as a place for holding religious ceremonies. Karim Khan’s body was buried in this garden after his death.

Bagh Nazar mansion has now turned into a museum where ancient works and objects belonging thousands of years ago are kept. Some of the works in the Pars Museum date back to the 4th millennium BC. One of the most valuable books in this museum is the “17 Man Quran”, which was written by Sultan Ibrahim Shah Rukh Timurid in the early 9th century AH. This Qur’an was first kept at the gate of Shiraz, but it was moved to this museum in 1983.