Iran to Exhibit Louvre Artifacts

Louvre Museum’s relics from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome as well as several French artworks will be exhibited at the National Museum of Iran titled “Louvre in Tehran” for four months.  

The exhibit will mark the first such cooperation between the two museums and is expected to be held toward the end of the current Iranian year (March 20, 2018), Mehr News Agency reported.

Initial agreements about the deal were reached in April 2016 when a delegation headed by Louvre Director Jean-Luc Martinez met with Masoud Soltanifar, the former head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization.

Details were ironed out last month in Tehran during a meeting between Marielle Pic, director of Louvre’s Middle Eastern Antiquities Department, and Jebreil Nokandeh, director of the National Museum of Iran.

The final step pertained to the selection of artifacts.

“The deal shows the great level of trust between Iran and France, and is a testament to our remarkable improvements in the operation of museums,” said Mohammad Reza Kargar, director of the Museums and Historical Moveable Properties Office at ICHHTO.

He said the loan of such precious objects also demonstrates the high level of stability and security in Iran.

“This project will help enhance public knowledge about other cultures,” Kargar added, calling on people to visit the exhibition.

He said Armenia and South Korea will also hold exhibitions in Iran and Mexico has proposed to showcase relics of its civilization in Iran, too.  

Louvre is the world’s largest museum featuring nearly 35,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century. The museum has a hall dedicated to Iranian artifacts and relics dating back to the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BC).

The National Museum of Iran, officially inaugurated in 1937, hosts relics belonging to ancient and medieval times, and include pottery vessels, metal objects, textile remains, rare books and coins.