TEHRAN –  The Sacred Defense Museum in Tehran has put on show wrecked cars in which five Iranian nuclear scientists have been assassinated by armed attacks.

Embedded in roofed glass-encircled stalls, two of the cars were used by martyrs Masoud Alimohammadi, a quantum field theorist and elementary-particle physicist who was assassinated on January 12, 2010, in front of his home in Tehran; and Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, nuclear scientist and then deputy of commerce at the Natanz nuclear power plant, who was assassinated on January 11, 2012, in Tehran.

Moreover, they showcase blasted vehicles of Majid Shahriari, a top nuclear scientist and physicist who worked with the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran; Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani, a nuclear scientist who was head of the Atomic Energy Organization from 2011 to 2013; and Darioush Rezaeinejad who was shot five times and killed by motorcycle-riding gunmen in front of his home in 2011.

The epic-scale Sacred Defense Museum may not be top on the list for travelers to the Islamic Republic but it does bargain something different in modern Iranian history where you can delve into wreckages of rockets, tanks, rifles, vessels, mortars, radars, air defense systems, grounded jets, military supplies and artillery pieces amongst others.

The Hall of Butterflies greets visitors on arrival, the place is dedicated to martyrs and victims of the war filled with personal belongings found on the various battlefields. Outside, a patchwork of domestically-manufactured armaments such as rockets, tanks, and artillery pieces is on show. The complex has vast garden areas, water features, and children’s play areas as well.

The Sacred Defense Museum is equipped with a state-of-the-art visual system including projections and video walls, while audio recordings relevant to each period contribute to its charm. The recreation of the liberation of the city of Khorramshahr by the means of virtual exhibits and video projections is amongst the main features of the museum where stands a replica of the Khorramshahr mosque adorned with creamy and turquoise patterned tiles. The strategic port city fell into Iraqi hands on October 26, 1980. It was recaptured by Iranian forces on May 24, 1982.

Some tourists say they are not just interested in visiting live or former warzones out of curiosity. What motivates those is guessing the stories of people who lost their lives, being displaced, wounded, captured, or lost their loved ones in those bitter moments of the history of mankind.

AFM