A series of historical objects kept in France's Louvre Museum were transferred to Tehran early this week to be displayed in an exhibition titled "The Louvre in Tehran" at the National Museum of Iran.
Taken from different parts of Louvre, the 56 items will be featured in four categories, including "The birth of a collection", "The glory of world civilizations", "Globalization dream" and "A living museum", ISNA reported.
It is the first large-scale exhibition by a major western museum in Iran and will open to the public from March 5 to June 8.
According to Jebreil Nokandeh, the head of NMI, the collection mostly includes objects belonging to civilizations in West Asia, Europe and North Africa, including Sumerian, Assyrian, Hittites, ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, as well as paintings and lithography works by Eugene Delacroix, French romantic artist (1798-1863) and Camille Corot, French portrait painter (1796-1875).
"A statue of Sphinx, a mythical creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion, is one of the outstanding items to be displayed in the exhibition," he said.
The extraordinary item, which is taken from the Egyptian collection in Louvre, dates back to the First Dynasty of Ancient Egypt (3150 BCE) and made of basalt, a kind of volcanic rock.
As an outstanding cultural and diplomatic event for both countries, the exhibition was planned in early 2016 when a memorandum of understanding was signed between Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, and Louvre officials. Its purpose is to introduce the history and culture of different parts of the world to Iranians.
The borrowed items are mostly non-Iranian, "for people here are quite familiar with similar antiquities that are abundant in domestic museums".
"This is a great opportunity for Iranians who may never get the chance to visit the Louvre personally," Nokandeh said.
Reportedly, only two objects among the selected collection are Iranian. They include an axe, which was discovered in Choghazanbil complex in Khuzestan Province and a bronze item related to Iron Age found in Lorestan Province. The other relics are from ancient French, Italian, Austrian, German, Dutch, Egyptian, Turkish, Syrian, Iraqi and Indian civilizations.
The event is sponsored by the Iranian private bank Ayandeh and the French Total and Renault companies.
Louvre-Lens, the museum’s satellite venue in northern France, will host the exhibition "The Rose Garden: Masterpieces of Persian art from the 19th century" slated for March 28-July 22 in return. The show is devoted to the sumptuous art of Qajar dynasty that ruled Iran from 1786 to 1925.
Kiarostami's Works
According to the head of NMI, on the sidelines of the exhibition, a collection of photos taken by late Iranian film director and photographer Abbas Kiarostami, which were on the Louvre walls, will be simultaneously displayed in the National Museum.
The acclaimed artist, who passed away in 2016, left precious collections of photos, including "Untitled Photographs" and a set of over 30 photographs, mostly of snow landscapes taken in his hometown Tehran between 1978 and 2003.
Security Boost
The National Museum of Iran was established in 1937 in Tehran and hosts relics preserved from ancient and medieval ages, including pottery vessels, metal objects and textile remnants, as well as rare books and coins.
To strengthen the museum's security, it has been recently equipped with electronic security sensors that connect the building to the police, travel news website Donyaye Safar reported.
Brigadier General Amir Rahmatollahi, the head of protection unit at ICHHTO, said the electronic warning system provides full-time security for the museum and informs security guards immediately in case of any violation.
