TEHRAN – To mark a triumph of cultural diplomacy, the National Museum of Iran has put on show a number of smuggled relics recovered from France and the UK.

The exhibition "The Repatriated of the Cultural-Historical Objects: Achievements of Cultural Diplomacy" is opened in the National Museum of Iran

 According to the public relations of the National Museum, the exhibition titled “The Repatriation of the Cultural-Historical Objects: Achievements of Cultural Diplomacy” was opened on Monday, on the occasion of Government Week.

The opening ceremony was attended by journalists, photographers, experts, activists, and cultural heritage enthusiasts.

In this ceremony, while congratulating the government week, Jebrael Nokandeh, who presides over the National Museum, gave a short introduction to the audience about the process of repatriation of the objects.

In his speech, Nokandeh pointed out that the repatriation of artifacts was the result of close cooperation between the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts, the Organization of Islamic Culture and Communications, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The director general of the National Museum of Iran continued: The objects in this exhibition include two repatriated collections, the larger collection was collected by Henri Goblet, the then representative of the Free French Government in Iran, about 80 years ago during World War II and transferred to France.

The collection was delivered to our embassy two years ago by the grandson of Goblet during negotiations with the cultural adviser of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Paris.

He also explained that the oldest object in the exhibition is more than 4500 years old. In total, the exhibited works are related to different cultural periods from the Bronze Age, Middle Elamite, Iron Age, Achaemenid, and Parthian to the Islamic era.

Clay figurines from the Middle Elam period similar to works in the world heritage sites of Susa, gray vessels that have a close affinity with the Early Iron Age pottery of the central Iranian plateau, as well as two tallow burners from the early Islamic centuries, and glazed vessels from the 5th to 7th centuries of AH and a Timurid period plate, all of which are genuine artifacts.

It should be noted that this exhibition will be open until September 22 and the exhibition is open to the public every day from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm.

AFM