Museums get momentum

Archaeology is of great importance in a country like Iran that has a long history of civilization. Iran's museums display the outcome of archaeologists' efforts and excavations.

At the end of the last Iranian year, news was released that the international exhibition "The Iranian Art and Civilization" won the first prize of the world's top museums in the Netherlands. The prize is one of the most important international awards in the world museums' culture and civilization, and the exhibition was the first in the world. This prize is so special that it is called the Oscars of the World Museum Awards.

Harry Topan, chairman of the Drents Museum in Assen, the Netherlands, spoke about the details of this credible international award, saying, "The award to Iranian Museum of Art and Civilization was given in competition with 94 museums in the world. After the exhibition of the Museum of Art and the Cradle of Iranian Civilization in the Netherlands, an exhibition of Dutch museums works was held in mutual cooperation with Iran's National Museum which is still open."

The granting of this prestigious museum award to Iran has taken place despite the pressures of some countries against Iran and it is interesting to note that the award was donated to Iran's mission in New York City.

In the course of cooperation between Iranian and foreign museums, Iran's National Museum has also organized, for several years, the exhibition of cultural monuments of museums of other countries. For this reason, the exhibition "Archeology and Art of the Land of the Netherlands, in View of Drents Museum" was held at Iran's National Museum in Tehran. The exhibition, which has attracted thousands of visitors, includes more than 420 cultural monuments from the Netherlands, in three sections of the ancient artifacts, ceramics and paintings, representing the ancient civilization of the country.

The head of the Drents Museum of the Netherlands, who had traveled to Iran several days ago, visited Iran's National Museum, and emphasized the strengthening of cultural cooperation between Iran and the Netherlands. On the sidelines of the visit to Iran's National Museum, Harry Topan referred to the historical and cultural richness of this museum, saying, "I am very excited that I was able to visit this museum today, and I am excited to see the amazing and historic Iranian art."

Harry Topan continued, "Fortunately, Iran and the Netherlands have started working well in cultural fields, including museum cooperation, and the cultural relations between Tehran and Assen are strengthened by holding exhibition of the archeology and art of the Dutch. This cooperation can continue and we support this kind of cooperation, because the continuity of museum cooperation can help strengthen cultural relations between the two countries."

Topan pointed out, "Both Dutch Drents Museum and Iran's National Museum have the honour of receiving the Oscars of Museum Awards."

The exhibition "Dutch Archeology and Art in View of Drents Museum" began at Iran's National Museum six months ago and will continue until mid-summer.

Archaeological museums are considered a manifestation of the documents of human civilization, and the exchange of these treasures on the international scene makes it possible to understand the cultural roots of countries. Iran and Spain are friends and have long-standing relationships, and "Iran, the Cradle of Civilization" exhibition continued its journey from Holland to Spain and began its work in Alicante, Spain, by displaying 196 works from more than 60 archaeological sites of Iran.

The exhibition tries to display the vast geography of Iran, via exposing works to the enthusiasts from Susa, Persepolis, the Burnt City, Solomon Throne and other places that have been registered in the UNESCO. Also, the exhibition "Iran, the Cradle of Civilization" displays works of over 200,000 years ago until the Safavid era.

Cultural Deputy Governor of Alicante Caesar Augusto Asencio, at the opening ceremony, expressed his satisfaction at the establishment of the exhibition and thanked the managers of Iran's National Museum and the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Madrid in helping realize the importance of cultural cooperation between Iran and Spain and its role in strengthening the relations between the two countries. He said that next September an exhibition of works from Spain will be held at Iran's National Museum.

The exhibition "Iran, the Cradle of Civilization" will open in Elicante Museum of Valencia, Spain, by September.

Samples of 4-decade archaeological excavations were held in the form of exhibitions during the past month in another section of Iran's National Museum. The exhibition was held on the sidelines of Iran's 16th annual archeological assembly at the Museum of Archeology and Islamic Art. The exhibit featured the best works of 200,000 years ago till the Middle Ages from 31 provinces of Iran.

This event at Iran's Archaeological Museum provided a great opportunity for tourists, both Iranian and foreigners, to observe historical and cultural heritage of Iran.

Archaeological perspectives are always dynamic and developing, and with each new finding, another dimension of culture is revealed. Publication of information, holding of exhibitions and sharing the findings in this area are of special importance.

The exhibition was important as it was the first time that the items from every region of Iran were displayed. Moreover, the exhibition was the place of convergence of ordinary people, and not just experts. In this way, 4 decades of archeological activities were categorized and were publicly displayed. Director General of Iran's Art Museum says: "The number of visitors to the Tehran museums has exceeded the capacity of the museums, and we are therefore planning to put some restrictions."

He added, "This warm welcome for museums has several factors. A city like Tehran, that has always been a tourist attraction, has now become a destination for visitors of museums. There has also been a change among people as we see that attention to cultural issues has increased and people give priority to visiting historical sites and museums. Of course, cyberspace has also been instrumental in creating this climate, as children are effective in persuading their parents."

Many historical works and buildings of Tehran experienced busy days during Nowruz. For example, a place like the Saadabad Palace, was visited by 16,000 people in the first days of the New Iranian Year and the Golestan Palace was the hub of almost 12,000 visitors. Iran's National Museum, by displaying Iranian works and hosting a fair from the Netherlands, had more than 4,000 visitors per day, and the Niavaran Palace hosted about eight thousand people a day.

The Niavaran palace with 77,829 visitors and Ahmad Shah Palace with 53,550 visitors had the highest rate of visitors during this period.

The historical Niavaran Complex is one of the museum palaces in northern Tehran, whose buildings have been constructed in a large garden of about 11 hectares. This complex has a lot of natural and historical attractions and its monuments were built in the Qajar and Pahlavi periods. Now the palace area includes the Niavaran Palace, Sahebqaranieh Palace and the Howzkhane Museum, the Ahmad Shah Palace, the Jahannema Museum, the Endowment Library, the Car Museum and the Inscriptions Garden.

According to statistics, 80% of visitors to the museums of Tehran are tourists from other cities.