Bagh- Melli

Bagh-e Melli:

Bagh-e Melli (The National Garden) is a government compound where the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran, the National Museum of Iran, Malek National Museum, and the future National Museum of Post are located. It is located in central Tehran and it was built by Jafar-khan Kashani in 1906.

Darvazeh Baghe Melli (The National Garden Gate):

This imposing brick gateway, decorated with high Haft Rangi( seven-Color) tiles, was built in 1922 by command of Reza Khan when he was minister of War.

It faces what it used to be the Ministry of War, an old Qajar building a few hundred yards to the north; the space between was for many years, a big military parade ground, Maidan-e-Mashq, but has now been built over. On the right, through the gateway, are the large police headquarters, built in neo-Achaemenian style during Reza Shah’s reign; on the left a museum completed in 1967, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Apart from numerous faience inscriptions, the tiling on both sides of the gateway illustrates military subjects such as machine guns and soldiers. The main faience inscription over the central arch, which is crowned by a chamber where military music was played, records well-known words of the Prophet Muhammad as quoted by Imam Reza.

Another inscription states that the gateway’s wrought-iron work was made in the Tehran arsenal.