The exhibition 'Louvre in Tehran' that opened on March 5, wrapped up on Monday registering nearly 250,000 visitors, a senior official at Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization said. "Besides those who purchased tickets, certain people such as students visited the exhibition in groups free of charge. This would increase the number of visitors when taken into account," ISNA quoted Mohammadreza Kargar, director of the Museums and Historical Moveable Properties Office at ICHHTO, as saying. As the first large-scale exhibition by a major western museum in Iran, the event put on show over 50 artifacts belonging to ancient civilizations of Western Asia, Europe and North Africa. The event was supposed to be held at Khorasan Grand Museum in Mashhad after the end of Tehran's show, but was canceled since insurance companies which were to support the event in Mashhad were not willing to extend their collaboration. "The companies insistent on ending the project before US sanctions against the country take effect," Kargar said.
