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With more than 50 years of travelling about in India, one can share a good deal of information and experience about out-of-the-way places and roads less travelled. That can make visits all the more exciting and enjoyable.

Sunday 22 October 2017

Iran - I, National Museum, Tehran

Tehran is a large, cosmopolitan city with many fine buildings, grand boulevards, etc. It has many attractions for the tourists, one of the first being the National Museum of Iran. In the pre-Islamic Section of the Museum, there is a fine collection of  artifacts dating back to 5000 BC or even earlier. It is interesting that quite a number of Stone-Age tools are on display that are quite identical with stone tools that have been found in India, strongly suggesting that man, in those very early ages, had similar compulsions for food and shelter, across a wide part of the world. Then there is a wide collection of painted pottery-ware dating back to 4500/4000 BC that clearly indicate the time when pottery became widespread in Persia as also the prevailing level of cultural sophistication.

 

The above is a picture of a spouted vessel of 4500 BC

There are many interesting items of bronze and of stone, including an image of Cyrus the Great (559-530 BC) that show draping of clothes quite similar to that found on statues in Greece and well as in Gandharan art of India.



All in all, the National Museum is an excellent introduction to the history and culture of Iran.