Iran - Andrew Burke [81]
There are several other small, specialist museums in the complex, including the Abkar Miniature Museum (admission IR3000), displaying miniatures by the artist Clara Abkar; the Farshchian Museum (admission IR3000), with works by Mahmoud Farshchian; the Bihzad Museum (admission IR3000), containing paintings by the artist Bihzad; the Museum of Ethnological Research (admission IR3000) with a few waxworks and ethnological artefacts; and the Mir Emad Calligraphy Museum (admission IR3000), with samples of Iranian calligraphy from different periods.
The Museum of Fine Arts (admission IR3000) is in one of the more impressive buildings and houses some charming Persian oil paintings dating back to the 18th century and some beautiful inlaid furniture. The Military Museum (admission IR3000) is inside and around another palace that belonged to the shah’s nephew Shahram; just look for the helicopter.
If pushed for time, the White and Green Palaces are the most highly recommended. The bookshop (2794 0373; 8am-5pm) at the entrance boasts a good range of tourist-oriented and English-language books about Iran.
Getting There & Away
To get to the museum complex, either walk or take a taxi (IR6000 dar baste – closed door) the 1.5km northwest from Tajrish Sq, beginning on Ja’fari St and turning left and right (ask anyone for ‘Musee Sa’d Abad’).
NIYAVARAN PALACE MUSEUM
About 6km east of the Sa’d Abad Museum complex is the Niyavaran Palace Museum (Map; 2228 2050; www.niavaranpalace.ir; Niyavaran Ave, off Shahid Bahonar Sq; individual tickets required; 8am-4pm winter, 9am-5pm summer), the complex where Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his family spent most of the last 10 years of royal rule. It’s set in five hectares of landscaped gardens and has four separate museums – tickets must be bought individually at the main gate.
After entering and buying tickets to the various museums, we recommend going straight through to Sahebqaranieh (King’s Special Office; admission IR5000), which was built at the end of the Qajar period but extensively remodelled by the last shah’s wife, Farah Diba, and used as his office. It contains a very fine collection of paintings and other furnishings, including several colourful Qajar-era works that Farah rescued from Shiraz and now adorn the ceilings.
But it is the insight into the shah’s daily life that makes it most fascinating. Some of the very attractive rooms include a private basement teahouse, private dental surgery and a bar decorated with Shirazi painted beams. Keep an eye out for the shah’s golden phone and gold-coloured pistols, and for photos displayed in the Ambassador’s Waiting Room; the mixed bunch sees Mao Zedong share space with Pope Paul VI, while Hitler, Queen Elizabeth II, Richard Nixon, Kemal Ataturk and Dwight Eisenhower (who was a guest at the shah’s last wedding), stare out from the past nearby. The custodians will make you join a guided tour, which on our most recent visit was conducted by a wonderfully well-informed, English-speaking woman.
Adjoining Sahebqaranieh is the Jahan-Nama Museum & Gallery (Queen’s Private Museum; admission IR3000). Two main rooms here are filled with a small but well-displayed example of the eclectic collection of modern and ancient art gathered by Farah Diba, mainly during the 1970s. Works by Warhol, Picasso and Joan Miró share space with Iranian archaeological artefacts and finds from sites in Mexico and Egypt, and rotating exhibits of modern Iranian art.
Head up the hill to the actual Niyavaran Palace, which has been closed since 2004 but, our guide told us, should reopen sometime in 2008, insh’Allah. It was built between 1958 and 1968 and has a decidedly ’60s look – clean-lined functionality on the outside