The museum complex consists of the main building and a beautiful garden, safely hidden from street noise behind thick walls. The entrance of the museum is not easy to discover from the street, but it readily offers all its beauty to curious travelers who notice the modest door of the museum.
It is a luxurious example of the Qajar dynasty buildings. Originally, it belonged to one of the city authorities titled Ehtesab-ol-Molk.
Later on, his son, Mohsen Moghadam, inherited the house and owned it together with his companion Salma. Besides being an architectural and cultural monument itself, the house is an incredible collection of priceless objects. The house has passed to Tehran University that continued its supervision after Mohsen’s death. In 2009, the house was restored and opened for publicity as a museum.
The building of Moghadam Museum consists of two parts: interior and external wings. Decoration of the house is typical for that period style: colorful tiles, columns and arches create a unique authentic atmosphere.
The peaceful garden is full of blooming trees, flowers and bushes, decorated with turquoise fountains and sculptures. The garden is especially breathtaking during springtime when nature wakes up in gentle sunshine. One of the rooms of the house is decorated with precious and semi-precious stones and corals. Also, guests can admire unique golden tiles, decorating one of the walls.
All the surroundings and buildings around it have typical architecture and are relatively new, but as soon as you reach the entrance of the museum, everything changes. The first things that will catch your attention, are beautiful ponds, lots of magnificent geranium and the use of sharp Persian type colors like turquoise, blue and purple.
Iranian architectural principles of a Persian garden in this mansion is one of the kind. The residency used to be the house of Mohammad Taqi Khan Ehtesab-al Molk, one of the most famous members of the Qajar court.
Years later, Dr. Mohsen Moghaddam, a professor of archeology at Tehran University and his French wife Selma, bought the house. The couple who appreciated historical and artistic arts and crafts of Iran began collecting valuable artifacts from around the country and exhibited them in their property.
In the west part of the mansion, there is the main section (tower), which had been mastered by professor Moghaddam and one of his students at the Faculty of Fine Arts, doctor Abolqasemi, in 1966. The building is decorated with tiles from the Qajar era and parts of Iranian arts and crafts are being exhibited in it.
The building, nowadays known as Moghadam Museum, was one of the luxurious houses of the Qajar period. It has two sections called Birouni (public wing) and Andarouni (private wing), along with all the other splendid parts of this majestic house, visitors can also see beautiful golden tiles installed on the walls. Some of these tiles are unique in the world.
Moghadam’s textile collection is also among rare collections of the world. They are now kept frozen in the complex and only one is publicly displayed in a glass showcase.
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