The Marble Palace (Persian: Kakh-e Marmar), one of Tehran’s historic houses situated in the city center and a major tourist attraction caught fire in 2009. A few important oil paintings were burnt, including works by Kamalodin Behzad, a Persian painter from the late Timurid and early Safavid periods.
The restoration work which started last year is nearing completion, Mehr News Agency quoted the Tehran deputy of cultural heritage organization Sepideh Sirus as saying. Due to the extent of the damage, the paintings cannot be taken outside of the palace and so the repair work by experts is being undertaken without moving them, the official said.