TEHRAN – Tehran’s Golestan Palace Museum will be hosting exhibitions of precious carpets, manuscripts and photos opening today.

“17 hand-woven Persian carpets dating back to the Qajar and Pahlavi eras, selected from the palace collection, will go on display in the exhibit,” director of the palace Masud Nosrati said in a press release published on Sunday.

“The silk and wool carpets have originally been woven in the cities of Arak, Tabriz and Sanandaj but the carpet weavers are not known,” he said, adding that the palace is home to over 350 precious and rare carpets, which are scheduled to be displayed gradually. 

The pictorial book “Exhibition of Golestan Palace Carpets” will also be unveiled in two languages, Persian and English, at the opening ceremony. 

Nosrati also said that nine rare manuscript books inscribed by the Safavid and Qajar masters of calligraphy like Mir Emad Hassani (1554-1615) will be put on display. The books are decorated with beautiful paintings by the masters.

In addition, a collection of 30 photos all taken by the Qajar king Nasser al-Din Shah (1821-1900) about 131 years ago will be exhibited, Nosrati said.

“The first selfie taken by Nasser al-Din Shah will also be displayed in the exhibit,” he concluded.

The advent of photographic art occurred in Iran about five years after its invention in 1839 during the last years of Qajar king Mohammad Shah’s reign.
 
Afterwards, Nasser ad-Din Shah, Mohammad Shah’s successor, showed great interest in photography and sent several groups of talented students from Dar-ul-Fonun, the Iranian polytechnic institute established in 1851, to European academies to learn the art.

Photo: Two pages from a rare copy of the Shahnameh 

RM/YAW