Nearly 50,000 Historical and Manuscript Documents ‘Lost’ During Ahmadinejad Era
Abdolnasser Mirchi, Director General of Cultural Heritage of Alborz Province, stated that following the transfer of the country’s Cultural Heritage Deputy Organization to Shiraz during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s presidency, approximately 48,000 historical artifacts and manuscripts have “gone missing.”
The Mehr News Agency reported on Thursday, November 28, citing Asadollah Darvish Amiri, Legal and Parliamentary Deputy of the Cultural Heritage Organization of Iran, writing: “Valuable documents, books, and manuscripts that have been passed down to us from our ancestors were kept in the central library of the Cultural Heritage Deputy within the organization.”
Mr. Darvish Amiri, referring to the transfer of the Cultural Heritage Deputy of this organization to Shiraz during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government, stated that the central library of this deputy was subsequently moved to Shiraz as well.
According to this official, “Unfortunately, following this transfer, historical books and manuscripts were stored in burlap sacks and cardboard boxes in the basement of the building where the Cultural Heritage Deputy was located… and were subjected to insects, rats, and moisture, suffering serious damage.”
This official from the Cultural Heritage Organization also stated that with the arrival of Hassan Rouhani’s government, the collection of documents, books, and manuscripts was returned from Shiraz to Tehran and “within three months was restored by 50 expert conservators.”
Previously, Ali Karami, an employee of Iran’s Cultural Heritage Organization, had reported that during the tenure of previous managers of the Cultural Heritage Organization in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s period, “47,000” book copies, manuscripts, and thousands of historical photographs along with archaeological reports had “been looted and destroyed.”
This is not the first time that the issue of neglect in the preservation of Iran’s historical and national treasures has become a news headline and report.
During Hassan Rouhani’s government as well, it was reported that officials at the Reza Abbasi Museum burned documents and correspondence from the Pahlavi era due to “lack of space.”
Most of these historical documents were related to correspondence from the office of Farah Pahlavi, Iran’s last queen.
Hamid Baghaei, head of the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization from 2009 to 2011, has been imprisoned for some time now on charges related to financial corruption.
