TEHRAN – Lebanon’s Minister of Culture Abbas Mortada toured the National Museum of Iran on Tuesday. 

In the company of a number of Iranian cultural officials, he visited different sections and galleries of the museum, ILNA reported on Wednesday. 

“I had the privilege of visiting this extraordinary museum today and experiencing the cultural and artistic heritage that represents the Iranian people and their civilization,” Mortada said during his visit. 

National Museum of Iran is a state museum under the auspices of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts. The Museum consists of the Iran Bastan Museum (Ancient Iran) and the Museum of Islamic Archaeology and Art of Iran, as well as eight research departments, the conservation department, the library, and the archives. The research departments are organized by specific archaeological and historical periods and topics. 

This Museum houses the largest collections of archaeological objects in the country. Dating from the Paleolithic to the late Islamic period, the collections represent more than a million years of human settlement and cultural achievement in Iran. The Paleolithic personal ornaments, clay and human figurines from the early village communities, the earliest evidence of administrative technology and writing from the 4th millennium BC, Persepolis stone reliefs and capitals, Parthian life-size bronze statue of the “Shami Man”, the natural mummy of a man called “Salt Man,” the Ilkhanid Mihrab (prayer niche) of Dar-e Behesht, and the pen and ink (Siah Qalam) paintings by Reza Abbasi of the Safavid period are among the important objects in the museum.

ABU/MG