48 Pieces of Exquisite Carpets Go Missing from ‘Hafeziye Saadabad’ Building
A total of 48 pieces of exquisite carpets have disappeared from the ‘Hafeziye Saadabad’ building (the Hafeziye building of the Office of the President) in Saadabad.
Images of the mentioned exquisite carpets were published in the book ‘Treasury of Warp and Weft, Collection of Images of the World’s Second Largest Carpet Collection’ in 2012. According to the Fars News Agency, a report titled ‘Illegal Removal of Assets Including 48 Pieces of Exquisite and Valuable Handwoven Carpets from the Hafeziye Saadabad Building’ has been referenced. It should be noted that the 48 pieces of exquisite carpets mentioned disappeared during the administration of President Rouhani between 2013 and 2016, and a special team in collaboration with supervisory organizations has been formed and is currently investigating the disappearance of these exquisite carpets during the previous administration.
Through expert assessment of 10 pieces of the removed carpets and according to their historical age, design type, artistic school, and physical characteristics, their relative value has been estimated at approximately 127 billion tomans. It should be noted that the 10 carpets that were valued are among the most exquisite carpets of the Office of the President in this building and belong to the famous Mashhadi (Emuvaoglu), Isfahan, and Todeshk styles, with one of them dating back to the Qajar period. The theft of these carpets began one year after the publication of their images in the book ‘Treasury of Warp and Weft’ and reached 48 pieces by 2016.
In the past, many historical structures that were also part of Iran’s cultural heritage and tourism were auctioned off by the government, assets that were plundered from Iran by the government and its agents. One senior expert in tourism planning had announced in recent months that many historical structures are being destroyed and there are insufficient funds for their restoration. Additionally, Ehsan Dehghani, Deputy for Economic and Commercial Affairs of the Development Fund, which is affiliated with Iran’s Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts, announced the auction of 19 historical structures by this ministry in April of the current year under the title ‘Initiative for Transferring the Right to Use Historical Structures.’
