Foreign museums pay $100k-200k for displaying Iranian antiques
An Iranian cultural official said foreign museums pay Iran $100,000-$200,000 for displaying Iranian historical items and antiques.
Director General for Museums and Mobile Historical Assets at Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHHTO) Mohammadreza Kargar told Mehr News Agency on Wednesday that part of the payment is derived from ticket sales.
He added that all display costs are paid by the foreign party, including the insurance for the historical items, their legal and governmental immunity, as well as the transfer and packaging costs.
The official referred to Louvre Museum as an example that financially assisted Iran in organizing a major exhibition of historical items from the French museum in Tehran. “We signed comprehensive agreements in this field,” he underlined.
The National Museum of Iran is currently hosting a collection of artworks on loan from the Louvre in Paris for a four-month period. The exhibition, which showcases a collection of 56 ancient artworks, will wrap up on June 21.
The Louvre has opened a show in Tehran billed as the first large-scale exhibition by a major Western museum in the country.
The exhibition at Iran’s national museum, which is celebrating its 80th anniversary, features 50 artworks, including a 2,400-year-old Egyptian sphinx, a bust of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, Iranian artefacts and drawings by western artists including Rembrandt and Delacroix.
In parallel with the Tehran exhibition, the Louvre presented The Rose Garden: Masterpieces of Persian Art from the 19th Century, on Qajar dynasty Iran, at Louvre-lens.
The Louvre in Tehran retraces the creation of the Louvre’s various collections, from the museum’s founding in 1793 to its most recent acquisitions.
Exhibition in Drents
Meanwhile, Drents Museum in the Netherlands is planning to display a collection of nearly 200 Iranian antique items from June 17 to November 18 in the city of Assen.
An exhibition showcasing hundreds of Iranian historic items is to open in the Netherlands shortly after the end of the exhibit of Qajar era artworks and relics in France.
The exhibit titled ‘Iran, The Cradle of Civilization’ will be held in the Dutch city of Assen.
According to Kargar, the entire expense will be covered by the Dutch government.
The exhibition aims to introduce the Iranian civilization to Europe, he added.