The best museums Iran

In two words: Unforgettable experience! Opened in December 2015 by a group of music lovers, this museum is simply exceptional and unique in Iran. Started by Mehrdad Jeihooni and Shahriar Shokrani in the early 1980 ' s, which was only a simple collection of instruments has grown over the years to become a legacy, a momentous testimony to Iranian culture and traditions and their evolution over the centuries.

A tip, don't go at the end of the day thinking about closing the visit quickly before going back to the hotel. You can easily spend two or three hours dreaming in the different rooms and extend the experience with a small private concert in the room dedicated to this effect. The museum is not big by size, but it is immense by the quality of its exhibition.

The first room, dedicated to percussion and strings, presents the national instruments, with in particular a very beautiful collection of tars, some of which have taken up to three years to be made. There is a large declination of sizes and materials for classical models, but some rarer models can be described such as this tar of nearly a century or another, on the hollow back specially designed for pregnant women. For it was a time, yes, or even women could play music! And for times where it's music that was totally forbidden, you can admire miniaturized and flat instruments that could be hidden under the clothes! Also in this room, an exceptional santouri alignment.

The second piece focuses on specific instruments in each region of Iran. In this way, we can admire all the know-how of nomadic populations in this field, including gheychak, a small guitar which originally was made with the head of a horse and which over the centuries has circulated along the Silk Road before arriving in Italy, where it gave birth to the violin. You can also try cooking utensils, which were improvised when the need to play music was felt!

These instruments, far from being presented as relics, are all in a state of functioning. You are not encouraged to touch them, because they remain fragile, but by asking nicely you can try one or two without problems. And in any case, your visit will be ipad in hand, with each instrument a small emptied that will allow you to see how it is played and what sounds it can render.

After such a beautiful initiation, you will be able to visit in a room entirely dedicated to the musical handicraft and where you can observe artisans in their work, to learn everything from the secrets of the manufacture of instruments, and of the tar in particular.

Finally you will be invited to a small private concert, because here there are only fans who play throughout the day. They told you: Unforgettable experience!

Don't miss to linger in the new boutique, where you can find a wide choice of Iranian music Cds as well as small memories and musical instruments.

A fascinating collection of Crown jewels, not lacking under any pretext. Bank Melli, in front of the German Embassy, is easily linked with its large black doors and armed guards at the entrance. In the basement, a fabulous treasure protected by substantial armour. The windows are home to precious stones, rough and rough diamonds, crested with crested and other different jewellery. Of unimaginable value, this collection gathers over several centuries the war spoils accumulated by the Crown, purchases made, legacies and finally gifts. The Diamant-i Nur or the Sea of light (182 carats) diamonds are undoubtedly the most famous of all. Reported by Nadir Shah (1688-1747), in the th century, after his victory over the Mughal Empire in Delhi, this diamond remains the most important of the world with the famous Koh-i Nur (the Mountain of Light). The latter, stolen by the British after leaving India, is now in the Tower of London. The former Throne of the Peacock, made in 1798 and encrusted of 26 733 precious stones, dates back to the time of Fath Ali Shah (1797-1834). More recently, the Throne of the Shah is also fully set of precious stones. The fabulous crown of the Pahlavi, dating back to 1924, was on its side made by a former Jeweler of Bukhara from 3 380 diamonds and countless emeralds, sapphires and pearls… also admiring the royal belt of gold, captured by a splendid emerald of 175 carats! Another highlight of the collection, the huge earth globe of 40 kg, realized in 1869 with more than 50 000 precious gemstones. The tales of the Thousand-and-One Nights are never far away… Possibility of buying postcards and a small booklet on the jewels at the exit.

Marking the location of the ancient bazaar citadel (or Ark), the magnificent Roses Palace will first house the Qadjar Dynasty (1794-1925) and the Pahlavi dynasty (1925-1979). It brings together seven palaces open to the public. It is difficult to remain insensitive to the gardens, the splendid flower beds and its marble-paved courtyards to the blue tiled basins. See in particular the Ethnographic Museum (Muzeh-ye Mardom Shenasi) for its beautiful paintings and interesting collection of everyday objects of everyday life and musical instruments. Also interested in the great nakhl, or ceremonial catafalque for the religious processions of the month of Moharram.

Very interesting museum near the rue Neauphle-le-Château and the Embassy of France which, even at the height of the revolution, has never been closed. The vast collection of Persian, high quality classical carpets, and kilims of nomadic tribes, come from all regions of the country.

The wonderful Isfahan and Kerman silk carpets will also make visitors happy. The carpets of Azerbaijan are recognisable to their central medallion in fish form. Between animal motifs, hunting scenes, worthy of the best miniatures with its tigers, ibex and leopards past the sword by some heroic shah, we are plunging into Persian mythology. Also dwell on the carpets to the medallions, the généalogie carpets and those representing Darius the Great, King of Kings. So you will know everything about Persian carpets, the number of knots at the cm ² signs the quality of the work. You can also know that a tourist is entitled to 12 m ² of carpet without additional taxes… Small shop also accessible to the public.

An unavoidable visit to Tabriz for one of the most beautiful museums in Iran, deployed on 3,000 m ² and hosting 4,500 archeological finds of the region. On the ground floor, see the potteries and sculptures of the Ve in the millennium before our era as well as the always impressive skeletons from excavations undertaken in Hasanlu and in different tepe (old fortresses or small towns built on hills) of the region. Note also the beautiful bronzes of the Acheside era and the beautiful silver jewels of the sassanide period. On the upstairs, two sections devoted to numismatic and Islamic times respectively. See in the first, apart from currencies, the beautiful collection of translated maps translated into English and highly instructive. The section dedicated to Islamic art includes beautiful food ceramics covering the period of the nineteenth century in the eighteenth century. Dwell on the collection of sabers, daggers and the original sword of Shah Ismaïl, which will impose chiism as state religion in the sixteenth century.

In the basement, you can admire a splendid collection of monumental sculptures due to Hasad Hosseini, native artist of Tabriz, whose name you may know if you are a fan of the Info's Guignols: he actually worked on the creation of sixty puppets of the cult program of Canal Plus. Works displayed at the Museum of Azerbaijan are much closer to the very black universe of the artist, who works on the human condition and the report of man to what surrounds him, whether politics, nature or wars.

Don't forget to finish visiting the small courtyard, where there are very beautiful carved stalls from various excavations.

Advice to soapweed ambiance… Former prison for opponents during the 1979 pre-revolution period, the establishment remained exactly in the same state as it was thirty years ago. In a religious silence, only disturbed by the distant echo of the gardien, the visit begins with a long framed entrance of walls on which the names of the prisoners are inscribed. Here, the secret police of the Shah (the Savak) were free to award all dissidents. The museum consists of the elucidation of these methods, illustrated by bloody models. An original visit, just steps from the national museum of Iran, which takes little time and allows you to discover another face of the country's history.