Countries seek to launch permanent museums in Iran

Mohammad-Hassan Talebian, who was speaking at a press conference ahead of the opening of 'Archeology and Art in the Netherlands — Narrated by Drents Museum' exhibition on Tuesday at the National Museum of Iran, added that this high demand shows the success of Iran's cultural diplomacy.

The exhibition opened on October 2 and will continue until April 6.

The National Museum of Iran hosted a landmark Louvre show from March to July, which is deemed as the first large-scale exhibition by a major Western museum in Iran and some other Armenian and South Korean exhibitions last year.

US sanctions did not restrict Iran and countries such as Spain, Singapore and Japan recently asked for launching museums in Iran.

"In the past, Iran only sent its antiquities to other countries, while today Iran's cultural officials decided to showcase artifacts from other countries and began the plan by showcasing items from Italy, Armenia, South Korea, France and the Netherlands."

Talebian noted that officials in the arts sector are doing their bests to have all Iranian museums, public or private, cooperate with international museums.

Touching upon the holding of Drents Museum exhibition in Iran, he elaborated that showcasing 50,000-year-old artifacts, 2,200-year-old mummy and recently-purchased painting indicates the importance of the event.

An official from Drents Museum said, "We are proud to showcase Dutch relics in the cradle of world civilization: Iran."

Nearly 200 Iranian antiques from the National Museum of Iran is currently on display at Drents Museum in a six-month exhibit titled 'Iran — Cradle of Civilization'. The objects date from the Paleolithic Era to the time of the Safavid Dynasty (1501–1736), featuring earliest developments of agriculture and livestock farming from the very beginning to cuneiform clay tablets, gold beakers and ornaments, bronze weapons and beautifully painted ceramics associated with successive Iranian kingdoms.

Director General of Drents Museum Harry Tupan said, "Holding exhibitions in Iran is a valuable experience for us and we hope our exhibition in Iran would be as highly welcomed as Iran's in the Netherlands."

So far, 80,000 individuals have visited 'Iran — Cradle of Civilization' and the number is expected to reach 100,000 by the time the event ends.