National Museum of Iran

The National Museum of Iran in Tehran is the world's most important institution for Iranian history, housing over 3 million artifacts. It consists of two museums: the Museum of Ancient Iran and the Museum of the Islamic Era. The brick building of the Ancient Iran museum, designed by André Godard and Maxime Siroux, was influenced by Sassanid vaults, particularly the Taq Kasra at Ctesiphon. The Museum of the Islamic Era is built with white travertine on the grassy grounds of the Ancient Iran museum.

Don't miss

• Mousterian stone tools made by Neanderthals on display in the first hall of the Museum of Ancient Iran
• Upper Paleolithic tools from Yafteh, dating back about 30,000 to 35,000 years
• The Museum of the Islamic Era exhibits over 1,500 works from Ilkanids, Seljuks, Timurids, Safavids, Qajars and more
• A Sassanid relief (224–651 AD) that was smuggled, seized in the UK, and returned in 2023
• Over 4,000 Achaemenid tablets returned from the University of Chicago after 85 years
• One of the world's four remaining statues of Homer's Penelope

Tickets & tours

Ways to visit National Museum of Iran

Cheapest way inBeijing：National Museum of China ticket4.8★ · 12 travelers2-6 hoursFree cancellationFrom$10 per personSee dates →Most bookedThe National Gallery of Art DC - Exclusive Guided Museum Tour5★ · 181 travelers~3 hoursFree cancellationFrom$95 per personSee dates →Private & flexibleTokyo National Museum Private Tour4.8★ · 26 travelers~2 hoursFree cancellationFrom$100 per personSee dates →

Getting there

Know before you go

• The museum is formed of two separate buildings: the Museum of Ancient Iran (pre-Islamic) and the Museum of the Islamic Era.
• Located near Imam Khomeini metro station, about 200 meters southeast.

A bit of history

Morteza Gholi Khan Hedayat proposed creating a museum in 1906, but it only opened in 1916 in a room of the Ministry of Education. The first collection had 270 bronze artifacts. In 1927, Iran canceled the French archaeologists' unconditional privilege, and French architect André Godard came to design the museum. Construction of the Museum of Ancient Iran began in 1935 and was completed in two years, officially inaugurated in 1937. The Museum of the Islamic Era was still being remodeled when the Iranian Revolution swept the country.