Moghadam House and Museum

🕰️When was it built?

The house survives from the late Qajar period and was built by Mohsen Moghadam's father. Moghadam later added new spaces such as the Arbabi building. In 1972 he gave the house and its collection to the University of Tehran, which runs the museum today.

🏛️What was it built for?

This was both a home and a place for collecting and keeping historic objects. Tiles and stone pieces were set into the architecture of the house, and objects such as textiles, pottery, glass and documents were kept in the rooms. That is why the courtyards themselves are part of the museum's collection.

👀What you will see

• Three courtyards, the outer, the inner and the caretaker's, divide the roughly 2,000-square-metre complex.
• The walls of the pool room are decorated with tiles and pottery fragments from different periods.
• The Arbabi building was added in 1966, with a look inspired by medieval European castles.
• The Qajar porch is decorated with Zand and Qajar tiles and has a small marble basin in the middle.
• The Tajaddod wall, with spiral columns, an arch and carved column bases, separates two of the courtyards.

💡Something interesting

The Tajaddod wall was designed by Houshang Seyhoun. Some of its column bases were brought here from a palace that was being demolished, so the decoration of the house was not always made at the same time as the building.

Good to know before you go