An art and culture exhibition of the Maya civilization will be held in Tehran later this year, according to Muhammad Reza Kargar, director of museum affairs at Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization.
Based on an agreement last year between the ICHHTO and Mexico’s cultural authorities, the Central American nation will loan over 250 artifacts dating from Preclassic and Classic Mayan periods to more recent times to Iran for display at the National Museum in the capital.
This will be the first collection of historical artifacts of a foreign civilization to be exhibited in Iran. The exhibition will last for five months, ILNA reported.
Pointing to the people’s dismay about the fact that other countries are not eager to display their artifacts in Iran, Kargar said the move by Mexico can and will pave the way for future exhibitions by other nations.
He admitted that “there is a lack of standard facilities” to display antiquities loaned from other countries, and said the problem must be addressed.
