Carpet Museum of Iran

🕰️When was it built?

The building was begun in 1961 as a carpet gallery, left unfinished, and stood unused for about fifteen years. Repair and conversion work started in 1976, and the museum opened on 11 February 1978. It was designed by Abdol-Aziz Farmanfarmaian.

🏛️What was it built for?

The museum was set up to collect and display handwoven carpets and to study the history and development of carpet art. The ground-floor hall holds the permanent collection and the upper floor is for temporary exhibitions; kilims are shown alongside the carpets.

👀What you will see

• The outside of the building is designed to look like a carpet loom, so it tells you what the museum is about before you go in.
• The ground-floor hall shows pieces from weaving centres such as Kashan, Kerman, Tabriz and Kurdistan side by side.
• Pictorial rugs on Shahnameh themes show how carpet design is tied to Iranian stories and literature.
• Two halls are given to carpets and kilims, and the second floor holds rotating exhibitions.

💡Something interesting

The loom-like facade is more than decoration: you can tell the museum's subject from the street. The building was meant for showing carpets from the very start, even though it took years to finish and open.

🎒Good to know before you go

• Take a little longer in front of the pictorial rugs; some of the scenes come from the Shahnameh and are not just repeating patterns.