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This "Gateway into Iran,"
was the symbol of the country's revival. The Shahyad Tower was a striking
national monument and audio-visual theatre complex". Its name: Shah
(king) and Yad (remembrance) was intended to remind coming
generations of the achievements of modern Iran under the Pahlavi Dynasty.
It is 45 m high, the height of the large arch is 21 m, the base is 63 m wide. It
is built with white stone from the Esfahan region. There are eight thousand
blocks of stone. The shape of each of them was calculated by a computer
programmed to include all the instructions for the building work. It was
designed by Hossein Amanat, a talented young Iranian architect. The architecture
of this monument is combination of traditional art of buildings in Iran and
modern west architecture.
The museum: One entered the
basement of the tower directly underneath the main vault. The black walls, the
sober and pure lines, the proportions of the whole building created an
intentionally austere atmosphere. Heavy doors opened onto a kind of crypt where
lighting was subdued. The shock was immediate. The lighting there seemed to
issue from showcases here and there which each contained a unique object. Gold
and enamel pieces, painted potteries, marble, the warm shades of the miniatures
and of the varnished paintings glittered like stars among the black marble walls
and in the semi-darkness of the concrete mesh which formed the ceiling of this
cave of marvels. There were about fifty pieces selected among the finest and
most precious in Iran. They were in excellent condition and represented precise
periods in the country's history.On the top of the building was kept a piece of
stone from the moon brought by astronauts of Appolo 11 and was given as a gift
by president Nixon to the Shah of Iran.
