TEHRAN -- The Jahan-Nama Museum at Niavaran Cultural-Historical Complex was reopened on May 21, after 16 months of renovation, the Persian service of CHN reported Monday.

Eight works by Marc Chagall are currently put on display at the museum.

Attending in the opening ceremony, Alireza Sajjadpur, the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization deputy director for cultural and communications affairs, said the organization is determined to establish a museum in each city in the near future.

The curator of Niavaran complex, Massud Salehi, said the walls and artifacts were renovated and the new ventilation system was also installed. Prominent painter Parviz Kalantari, who was also present in the ceremony, expressed his satisfaction over the reopening of museum, adding, “Tehran deserves to have more museums to introduce culture and identity of the country.” He also expressed his complaint about lack of museums for the world’s famous artists such as Mohsen Vaziri Moqaddam, adding, “Vaziri Moqaddam is one of the most prominent artists in Europe, but there is no museum in his name in the country.”

Niavaran garden in northern Tehran was built at the order of king Fat’h-Ali Shah in early Qajar era. Its largest monument, Sahebqaranieh Palace, was constructed during the Nasser ad-Din Shah dynasty.

The palace was renovated in the 1970s, of which some part of the western section was changed into the place, where a collection of Iranian or foreign artworks were displayed and was named Jahan-Nama.

After the Islamic Revolution, this section was reopened under the title of Sahebqaranieh Museum in 1998.

The museum houses various works including artifacts from Sialk civilizations and the Far East, works by Picasso, Gauguin, Pissarro, Degas, Renoir, Dali, and Chagall, besides works by Iranian contemporary artists including Parviz Tanavoli, Bahman Mohasses, Sohrab Sepehri, Nasser Oveissi, Manuchehr Yektaii, and Jazeh Tabatabaii.

The underground section of the museum is used for temporary exhibits.