TEHRAN – Song Tao, the head of the International Liaison Department of the Communist Party of China, toured the National Museum of Iran on Tuesday.

Tao, who was accompanied by a high-ranking delegation, visited parts of the complex including the Museum of Ancient Iran (Muze-ye Iran-e Bastan) and the Museum of the Islamic Era (Muze-ye Dowran-e Eslami), which were opened in 1937 and 1972, respectively.

Tao arrived in Tehran on Sunday upon an official invitation of the secretary of the Expediency Council, Mohsen Rezaei.

The Chinese official and his accompanying delegation held meetings with Expediency Council’s head and secretary, parliament speaker and a host of other high-ranking officials of the country.

Currently, China hosts two separate collection, on loan from the National Museum of Iran, representing the [long-lasting] relationship between Iran and China.

A total of 15 centuries-old celadons is on show at Beijing’s Palace Museum. Titled “Longquan of the World: Longquan Celadon and Globalization”, the exhibition will also showcase objects on loan from Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Japan, Syria, Egypt, the United Kingdom, and other countries and regions.

Another collection is on show at a Beijing exhibit that opened its doors to the public on July 13 at the National Art Museum of China, under the name “The Asian Civilization Exhibition”. The loan objects include clay works, Achaemenid inscriptions, Sassanid sculptures and glassworks.

AFM/MG