WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.960 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today, we are 00:00:02.960 --> 00:00:06.200 standing at the threshold of something. Well, 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:09.140 something massive. And I don't just mean physical 00:00:09.140 --> 00:00:11.419 size, though we are talking about huge buildings. 00:00:11.519 --> 00:00:14.300 I mean massive in terms of memory. We're looking 00:00:14.300 --> 00:00:16.699 at an institution that's basically holding the 00:00:16.699 --> 00:00:19.760 hard drive of human civilization for an entire 00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:22.399 region. It's a staggering archive. We're talking 00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:25.140 about the National Museum of Iran. And to give 00:00:25.140 --> 00:00:27.859 you a sense of the scale right off the bat. This 00:00:27.859 --> 00:00:30.519 place isn't just a gallery with a few, you know, 00:00:30.539 --> 00:00:33.340 pretty vases. No. It's a custodian of over three 00:00:33.340 --> 00:00:36.659 million artifacts. Three million. That number 00:00:36.659 --> 00:00:39.210 is just... It's hard to wrap your head around. 00:00:39.329 --> 00:00:41.829 It's the oldest archaeological museum in West 00:00:41.829 --> 00:00:43.829 Asia. And honestly, it's a heavyweight champion 00:00:43.829 --> 00:00:46.329 when it comes to historical preservation. But 00:00:46.329 --> 00:00:48.409 here's the thing that really got me when we were 00:00:48.409 --> 00:00:50.310 digging into the research for this. It's not 00:00:50.310 --> 00:00:52.549 just one building. It's actually two distinct 00:00:52.549 --> 00:00:55.890 complexes in Tehran that function as this, well, 00:00:55.929 --> 00:00:59.130 this massive time capsule. Precisely. You have 00:00:59.130 --> 00:01:02.170 the Museum of Ancient Iran and then the Museum 00:01:02.170 --> 00:01:05.069 of the Islamic Era. And between the two of them, 00:01:05.109 --> 00:01:06.689 they're trying to do something almost impossible. 00:01:07.280 --> 00:01:09.680 Which is? Tell the comprehensive story of us. 00:01:09.939 --> 00:01:13.200 And by us, I mean humanity in that region, stretching 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:17.319 all the way from Neanderthals making stone tools 00:01:17.319 --> 00:01:20.299 right up to the intricate mathematical artistry 00:01:20.299 --> 00:01:23.500 of the Sothoic kings. That is a huge scope. Hundreds 00:01:23.500 --> 00:01:25.480 of thousands of years. But before we get lost 00:01:25.480 --> 00:01:28.159 in that timeline, can we just pause on the, wait, 00:01:28.180 --> 00:01:31.319 what? factor of this place? The surprises. Yeah, 00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:33.219 the surprises. Because there are some things 00:01:33.219 --> 00:01:34.819 in this collection that just sound made up. Like 00:01:34.819 --> 00:01:36.659 the fact that they have what is technically considered 00:01:36.659 --> 00:01:39.019 the world's first animation. On a piece of pottery. 00:01:39.120 --> 00:01:42.120 On pottery from 5 ,000 years ago. It's a remarkable 00:01:42.120 --> 00:01:44.599 artifact from Sharia Sukteh. And we will definitely 00:01:44.599 --> 00:01:47.579 unpack how that works later. It challenges a 00:01:47.579 --> 00:01:49.340 lot of our assumptions about what ancient art 00:01:49.340 --> 00:01:51.439 was capable of. And the other thing that threw 00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:53.659 me, and maybe this is just my own ignorance showing, 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:57.260 is that the most iconic building of this Iranian 00:01:57.260 --> 00:02:00.090 national treasure. a building that looks like 00:02:00.090 --> 00:02:02.310 it grew out of the ancient history of Persia 00:02:02.310 --> 00:02:06.150 itself, was actually designed by a Frenchman. 00:02:06.310 --> 00:02:09.289 That's true. André Godard. And that origin story 00:02:09.289 --> 00:02:11.389 is actually the perfect place to start because 00:02:11.389 --> 00:02:13.629 the museum's existence wasn't exactly a straight 00:02:13.629 --> 00:02:16.969 line. It didn't just appear overnight. No. It 00:02:16.969 --> 00:02:19.669 had a bit of a rocky start. Right. So let's rewind. 00:02:19.849 --> 00:02:22.969 Early 20th century. Who wakes up and decides 00:02:22.969 --> 00:02:25.740 we need a museum? Because usually people are 00:02:25.740 --> 00:02:28.219 worried about, you know, food and shelter. Well, 00:02:28.300 --> 00:02:30.159 the intellectual class was very concerned with 00:02:30.159 --> 00:02:32.400 heritage. The first serious proposal came in 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:36.060 1906. There was a man, Morteza Golikhan Hedayat. 00:02:36.139 --> 00:02:39.240 He had this vision, but as is often the case 00:02:39.240 --> 00:02:41.439 with ambitious projects, it didn't quite get 00:02:41.439 --> 00:02:43.400 off the ground immediately. So it was just a 00:02:43.400 --> 00:02:45.639 great idea on paper. Exactly. It wasn't until 00:02:45.639 --> 00:02:48.379 1916 that something actually opened, but it was 00:02:48.379 --> 00:02:50.280 incredibly modest. They called it the Museum 00:02:50.280 --> 00:02:52.479 of Education. And if you're picturing a grand 00:02:52.479 --> 00:02:55.550 hall, stop. Picture a closet. Picture a supply 00:02:55.550 --> 00:02:57.789 closet. It was basically one room in the Ministry 00:02:57.789 --> 00:03:00.909 of Education building. They had about 270 items, 00:03:01.009 --> 00:03:04.229 some pottery, old weapons, seals. A far cry from 00:03:04.229 --> 00:03:08.469 3 million items. This was a start. But the real 00:03:08.469 --> 00:03:10.590 turning point, the moment it starts to become 00:03:10.590 --> 00:03:13.530 the institution we know today, happens in the 00:03:13.530 --> 00:03:16.229 late 1920s. And this connects to that French 00:03:16.229 --> 00:03:18.229 influence you mentioned. Right, because at this 00:03:18.229 --> 00:03:20.750 time... Archaeology in the region was heavily 00:03:20.750 --> 00:03:22.909 dominated by Europeans. It was sort of the era 00:03:22.909 --> 00:03:25.650 of the great game applied to history. It was. 00:03:25.689 --> 00:03:28.849 The French specifically had a stronghold. For 00:03:28.849 --> 00:03:31.610 a long time, French archaeologists had an unconditional 00:03:31.610 --> 00:03:35.669 privilege to excavate in Iran. But in 1927, the 00:03:35.669 --> 00:03:37.729 Iranian government pushed back. That privilege 00:03:37.729 --> 00:03:39.550 was canceled. Okay. But the government still 00:03:39.550 --> 00:03:41.530 wanted a proper national museum and library. 00:03:42.050 --> 00:03:45.669 And as a sort of diplomatic tradeoff, the privilege 00:03:45.669 --> 00:03:48.110 of designing it was given to France. So it was 00:03:48.110 --> 00:03:50.460 a deal. You can't dig everywhere anymore, but 00:03:50.460 --> 00:03:52.599 you can build the house where we keep the history. 00:03:52.860 --> 00:03:56.639 In a way, yes. So in 1929, a French architect 00:03:56.639 --> 00:03:59.659 and archaeologist named André Godard comes to 00:03:59.659 --> 00:04:02.780 Iran. He's the key figure. And the building he 00:04:02.780 --> 00:04:06.580 designed, the Museum of Ancient Iran, is fascinating 00:04:06.580 --> 00:04:09.300 because it's this fusion of cultures. I was looking 00:04:09.300 --> 00:04:11.960 at photos of it. It's this massive, dark brick 00:04:11.960 --> 00:04:14.699 structure. It looks incredibly imposing. It is. 00:04:14.780 --> 00:04:18.740 Construction was between 1935 and 1937. Godard, 00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:21.600 along with Maxime Serru, designed it. But here's 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:24.019 the fascinating detail. Even though they were 00:04:24.019 --> 00:04:26.560 French, they didn't build a French -style building. 00:04:26.800 --> 00:04:29.480 They didn't drop a neoclassical bank from Paris 00:04:29.480 --> 00:04:32.620 into Tehran. Exactly. They looked at Iran's own 00:04:32.620 --> 00:04:35.819 history for inspiration. That huge dark archway 00:04:35.819 --> 00:04:37.959 in the front, it looks ancient. That's the key 00:04:37.959 --> 00:04:40.480 feature. It was intentionally influenced by the 00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:43.620 Sassanid style. Specifically, the famous Takh 00:04:43.620 --> 00:04:46.120 Khazra at Sessafan. That massive vaulted arch 00:04:46.120 --> 00:04:48.339 that you want. So he's using the country's own 00:04:48.339 --> 00:04:50.379 architectural language to house its history. 00:04:50.600 --> 00:04:52.399 Which is a pretty respectful move for a foreign 00:04:52.399 --> 00:04:55.220 architect in the 1930s. It frames the entry into 00:04:55.220 --> 00:04:57.199 history through the lens of that history itself. 00:04:57.639 --> 00:04:59.939 Now, if you look at the second complex, the Museum 00:04:59.939 --> 00:05:01.800 of the Islamic Era, it's a totally different 00:05:01.800 --> 00:05:04.000 vibe. Completely. Yeah, that one looks much more 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:06.519 modern. White stone sitting on the grass. White 00:05:06.519 --> 00:05:09.300 travertine. But even there, the inspiration is 00:05:09.300 --> 00:05:12.420 historical. It's built on an octagonal cruciform 00:05:12.420 --> 00:05:15.879 plan inspired by the Sassanid Palace at Bishapur. 00:05:16.300 --> 00:05:19.160 So both buildings are echoing the past, just 00:05:19.160 --> 00:05:21.839 in different ways. One dark and heavy, the other 00:05:21.839 --> 00:05:24.620 white and geometric. But the Islamic era museum 00:05:24.620 --> 00:05:27.540 had a much more turbulent birth. It did. It was 00:05:27.540 --> 00:05:30.040 being remodeled right when the Iranian revolution 00:05:30.040 --> 00:05:33.100 swept the country in the late 70s. So its full 00:05:33.100 --> 00:05:35.579 potential was, well, it was delayed. Okay, so 00:05:35.579 --> 00:05:38.129 we have the stage set. Two buildings. Let's walk 00:05:38.129 --> 00:05:40.050 inside. Let's do this walk through deep time. 00:05:40.269 --> 00:05:42.730 Because you mentioned Neanderthals earlier, and 00:05:42.730 --> 00:05:45.250 I feel like people don't usually associate museums 00:05:45.250 --> 00:05:48.850 in Tehran with Neanderthals. And that's a huge 00:05:48.850 --> 00:05:51.149 oversight. The Ancient Iran Museum has a collection 00:05:51.149 --> 00:05:53.889 that goes back to the lower Paleolithic period. 00:05:54.029 --> 00:05:56.430 We're talking about the very dawn of human activity 00:05:56.430 --> 00:05:58.129 in the region. So what are we actually looking 00:05:58.129 --> 00:06:00.889 at? Are these just rocks? To the untrained eye? 00:06:01.209 --> 00:06:04.810 Maybe. But these are Mysterion -sewn tools from 00:06:04.810 --> 00:06:07.649 places like Kashafrud and Darband. These were 00:06:07.649 --> 00:06:10.470 made by Neanderthals. This is before Homo sapiens 00:06:10.470 --> 00:06:12.410 were the only game in town. That's incredible, 00:06:12.569 --> 00:06:14.610 just the idea of standing there looking at a 00:06:14.610 --> 00:06:17.089 tool that a different species of human held in 00:06:17.089 --> 00:06:19.850 their hand. It really grounds you, and it continues 00:06:19.850 --> 00:06:23.009 through the upper Paleolithic. There are tools 00:06:23.009 --> 00:06:26.750 from Jafta dating back 30 ,000, maybe 35 ,000 00:06:26.750 --> 00:06:29.990 years. But as we move forward in time, the artifacts 00:06:29.990 --> 00:06:33.339 get more complex. we start seeing art. And that 00:06:33.339 --> 00:06:35.980 brings us to your favorite item. The goat. The 00:06:35.980 --> 00:06:38.180 movie Goat? The pottery from Char et Soupde. 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:41.300 The Burnt City. Okay, lay it out for us. How 00:06:41.300 --> 00:06:44.399 is a cup in animation? Because usually pottery 00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:46.699 just sits there. So imagine an earthen goblet. 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:48.279 Around the side of it, the artist has painted 00:06:48.279 --> 00:06:51.160 five panels. Each panel shows a goat in a slightly 00:06:51.160 --> 00:06:53.040 different position. Right. And the first he's 00:06:53.040 --> 00:06:55.959 standing, and the next he's rearing up. Then 00:06:55.959 --> 00:06:58.180 he's midair. Then he's grabbing a leaf from a 00:06:58.180 --> 00:07:01.040 tree. And if you spin it? If you spin the goblet, 00:07:01.519 --> 00:07:03.899 The persistence of vision kicks in. The images 00:07:03.899 --> 00:07:06.000 blur together and you see the goat jump up and 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:09.399 snatch the leaf. It is, for all intents and purposes, 00:07:09.720 --> 00:07:12.800 the earliest known example of animation. That 00:07:12.800 --> 00:07:16.199 is just mind -blowing. Someone 5 ,000 years ago 00:07:16.199 --> 00:07:17.959 was sitting there thinking, I bet I can make 00:07:17.959 --> 00:07:20.360 this goat move. It's like they were inventing 00:07:20.360 --> 00:07:22.319 cinema before they'd even perfected the wheel. 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:25.680 It speaks to a very human desire to capture life 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:28.800 in motion. It wasn't enough to just draw the 00:07:28.800 --> 00:07:30.759 goat. They wanted to capture the action of the 00:07:30.759 --> 00:07:33.800 goat. I love that. Prehistoric cinema. Okay, 00:07:33.879 --> 00:07:35.800 moving through the gallery, we hit the heavy 00:07:35.800 --> 00:07:37.920 hitters. We have to talk about the salt men. 00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:41.079 The salt men are fascinating. Yeah. A bit macabre. 00:07:41.500 --> 00:07:43.819 These are naturally mummified remains preserved 00:07:43.819 --> 00:07:46.939 in salt mines. The level of preservation is eerie. 00:07:47.079 --> 00:07:50.100 You can see hair, clothing, leather, boots. And 00:07:50.100 --> 00:07:52.379 these weren't kings wrapped in linen. No, these 00:07:52.379 --> 00:07:55.290 were miners. Ordinary workers who died in a collapse. 00:07:55.430 --> 00:07:57.529 The soul just dried them out. It gives you this 00:07:57.529 --> 00:08:00.050 visceral connection to the past. You aren't looking 00:08:00.050 --> 00:08:02.370 at a statue of a god. You're looking at a guy 00:08:02.370 --> 00:08:04.730 who went to work 2 ,000 years ago and never came 00:08:04.730 --> 00:08:07.930 home. That hits hard. And speaking of statues, 00:08:08.110 --> 00:08:10.189 we do have the big ones. You have Darius the 00:08:10.189 --> 00:08:13.310 Great. Yes, the statue of Darius. The massive 00:08:13.310 --> 00:08:15.850 columns from Persepolis. Symbols of imperial 00:08:15.850 --> 00:08:17.949 power. But there's another statue that I find 00:08:17.949 --> 00:08:21.350 even more poignant. The statue of Penelope. Penelope 00:08:21.350 --> 00:08:25.220 as in? From the Odyssey, Odysseus' wife. The 00:08:25.220 --> 00:08:28.319 very same. A marble statue of Penelope grieving 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:31.639 for her lost husband found in the ruins of Persepolis. 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:34.600 What was a Greek mythological statue doing in 00:08:34.600 --> 00:08:36.700 the capital of the Persian Empire? That's the 00:08:36.700 --> 00:08:39.000 big question. It was likely a diplomatic gift 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:41.600 or maybe war booty. Yeah. But here's the beautiful 00:08:41.600 --> 00:08:44.559 part. It's one of only four such statues in the 00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:47.299 world. The others are in the Vatican and Rome. 00:08:47.559 --> 00:08:50.600 Wow. And a few years ago, back in 2016, there 00:08:50.600 --> 00:08:52.480 was this reunion exhibition. They brought the 00:08:52.480 --> 00:08:54.960 sisters together. They did. First in Milan, and 00:08:54.960 --> 00:08:56.919 then the Italian statues traveled to Tehran. 00:08:57.080 --> 00:08:59.440 It was this beautiful moment where these marble 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:02.019 sisters, separated by history, were reunited 00:09:02.019 --> 00:09:04.100 in the very place where one of them had been 00:09:04.100 --> 00:09:06.440 buried for centuries. That's surprisingly emotional 00:09:06.440 --> 00:09:09.220 for a story about rocks. It shows that art has 00:09:09.220 --> 00:09:12.399 a life of its own. It does. And speaking of shiny 00:09:12.399 --> 00:09:15.220 things, before we leave the ancient world, we 00:09:15.220 --> 00:09:17.500 have to mention the gold, the Iron Age stuff. 00:09:17.700 --> 00:09:20.100 The Marlet collection. The gold cups, the animal 00:09:20.100 --> 00:09:22.940 statues. There's a ring of power from the Elamite 00:09:22.940 --> 00:09:26.159 period. It shows the incredible richness of the 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:29.120 metalwork. It pushes back against any idea that 00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:32.100 this is a dark age. The craftsmanship is world 00:09:32.100 --> 00:09:34.159 class. Okay, so that's the ancient building. 00:09:34.399 --> 00:09:37.600 We've done Neanderthals, the movie goat, the 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:40.460 salt men, the gold. Now we walk across the grass 00:09:40.460 --> 00:09:42.820 to the white building, the Museum of the Islamic 00:09:42.820 --> 00:09:46.039 Era. And here, the atmosphere changes completely. 00:09:46.299 --> 00:09:49.159 You have about 1 ,500 works on display. The materials 00:09:49.159 --> 00:09:51.679 shift. You start seeing delicate astrolabes, 00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:54.279 adobe calligraphy, medieval textiles. It feels 00:09:54.279 --> 00:09:57.200 more personal, maybe? It is closer to our time. 00:09:57.299 --> 00:09:59.899 And you see the shift in focus towards the written 00:09:59.899 --> 00:10:02.039 word, towards geometry. But the personalities 00:10:02.039 --> 00:10:04.100 are still there. For example, the personal items 00:10:04.100 --> 00:10:07.100 of Abbas the Great. This is the Shah who basically 00:10:07.100 --> 00:10:10.799 rebuilt Isfahan. Yes. They have his sword, his 00:10:10.799 --> 00:10:13.559 shield, his dress. Seeing the clothing of a historical 00:10:13.559 --> 00:10:15.919 figure like that, it removes the abstraction. 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:19.139 He was a man who wore this dress, held this shield. 00:10:19.259 --> 00:10:22.019 It makes the history tactile. And there's a piece 00:10:22.019 --> 00:10:24.220 you flagged as important, the Paradise Gate. 00:10:24.519 --> 00:10:28.440 Ah, yes. It's a mihrab, a prayer nish, from the 00:10:28.440 --> 00:10:31.389 Ilkhanate Empire. And along with these intricate 00:10:31.389 --> 00:10:34.690 wooden windows from 1126 A .D., it shows how 00:10:34.690 --> 00:10:38.169 Iranian identity evolved. How so? It wasn't that 00:10:38.169 --> 00:10:40.210 the ancient Persian identity disappeared when 00:10:40.210 --> 00:10:43.009 Islam arrived. It blended. You see the artistic 00:10:43.009 --> 00:10:45.830 continuity, the geometric mastery, the love of 00:10:45.830 --> 00:10:48.889 detail applied to religious architecture. It's 00:10:48.889 --> 00:10:51.710 a story of evolution, not replacement. So I want 00:10:51.710 --> 00:10:53.809 to pivot a bit because a museum isn't just a 00:10:53.809 --> 00:10:55.909 warehouse for old stuff. It's a player on the 00:10:55.909 --> 00:10:58.330 world stage. And this museum seems incredibly 00:10:58.330 --> 00:11:00.549 active in what we might call cultural diplomacy. 00:11:00.809 --> 00:11:02.649 That's a very good term for it. Art can travel 00:11:02.649 --> 00:11:04.929 across borders that people sometimes can't. Take 00:11:04.929 --> 00:11:08.009 us back to 2010, the Cyrus Cylinder. This was 00:11:08.009 --> 00:11:10.269 a massive moment, an exchange with the British 00:11:10.269 --> 00:11:13.360 Museum. The Cyrus Cylinder is often called the 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:16.559 first charter of human rights. It's a huge point 00:11:16.559 --> 00:11:18.919 of pride for Iranian history, but it lives in 00:11:18.919 --> 00:11:21.299 London. So they brought it home. For four months. 00:11:21.919 --> 00:11:24.419 And the reaction was overwhelming. Half a million 00:11:24.419 --> 00:11:27.379 people visited it at Tehran. That's rock concert 00:11:27.379 --> 00:11:29.740 attendance. It shows the hunger people have to 00:11:29.740 --> 00:11:31.840 connect with that heritage. And then they did 00:11:31.840 --> 00:11:34.779 it again with the Louvre in 2018. Yes. For the 00:11:34.779 --> 00:11:37.899 museum's 80th anniversary, 50 masterpieces from 00:11:37.899 --> 00:11:41.399 the Louvre came to Tehran, drew over 250 ,000 00:11:41.399 --> 00:11:44.750 visitors. It's these moments of connection, Paris 00:11:44.750 --> 00:11:47.789 to Tehran, London to Tehran, that bridge gaps. 00:11:48.110 --> 00:11:50.110 But it's not always friendly loans. Sometimes 00:11:50.110 --> 00:11:52.210 it's like a crime thriller. We have to talk about 00:11:52.210 --> 00:11:54.269 the case of the smuggled relief. This is a wild 00:11:54.269 --> 00:11:56.990 story. So there was this sassanid release, a 00:11:56.990 --> 00:11:59.230 stone carving dating back to somewhere between 00:11:59.230 --> 00:12:02.649 224 and 651 A .D. Worth a bit of money. Estimated 00:12:02.649 --> 00:12:05.409 to be worth over 30 million pounds. It was illegally 00:12:05.409 --> 00:12:08.389 smuggled out of Iran in the 80s, probably hacked 00:12:08.389 --> 00:12:11.129 out of a rock face during the Iran -Rock War. 00:12:11.559 --> 00:12:14.120 It ends up in the UAE, sits there for years. 00:12:14.179 --> 00:12:17.039 And then in 2016, someone gets greedy and tries 00:12:17.039 --> 00:12:18.879 to bring it into the UK to sell it. And they 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:21.899 got caught. Seized at Stansted Airport. Border 00:12:21.899 --> 00:12:24.139 force officers saw the crate and thought, this 00:12:24.139 --> 00:12:26.440 looks suspicious. I love that. Just sitting in 00:12:26.440 --> 00:12:29.159 an airport hangar, a 30 million pound treasure 00:12:29.159 --> 00:12:32.100 wrapped in bubble wrap. Exactly. It took years 00:12:32.100 --> 00:12:35.759 of legal wrangling. But finally, in June 2023, 00:12:36.179 --> 00:12:38.740 it was returned to Iran. It's now permanently 00:12:38.740 --> 00:12:41.179 displayed at the museum. A real victory. It sends 00:12:41.179 --> 00:12:43.539 a message, too. You can steal it, but you can't 00:12:43.539 --> 00:12:45.860 keep it. Right. And speaking of returns, we have 00:12:45.860 --> 00:12:48.240 to mention the Achaemenid tablets. From the University 00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:50.559 of Chicago, right? Yes, in 2024. These have been 00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:54.159 on loan since the 1930s. Thousands of clay tablets. 00:12:54.360 --> 00:12:56.980 Now, be honest. Clay tablets sound kind of boring 00:12:56.980 --> 00:13:00.500 compared to gold cups. Visually, maybe. They're 00:13:00.500 --> 00:13:02.720 small brown lumps of clay with little scratches. 00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:05.840 But the content, the content is thrilling. If 00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:07.519 you want to know what life was actually like. 00:13:07.559 --> 00:13:10.179 Why? That's on them. They aren't grand proclamations 00:13:10.179 --> 00:13:13.500 of kings. They're receipts. Receipts. Administrative 00:13:13.500 --> 00:13:16.039 records. They detail wages, road management, 00:13:16.200 --> 00:13:18.679 how much barley a worker got paid, travel permits. 00:13:18.940 --> 00:13:21.659 So it's the Excel spreadsheets of the Achaemenid 00:13:21.659 --> 00:13:24.179 Empire. Exactly. And that's why they're so valuable. 00:13:24.559 --> 00:13:26.580 They tell us about the common people, the economy, 00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:29.779 the daily grind of life under Darius the Great. 00:13:30.200 --> 00:13:32.580 You don't get that from a statue of a king. You 00:13:32.580 --> 00:13:34.159 get that from the tax records. That's a great 00:13:34.159 --> 00:13:36.759 point. The boring stuff makes the history real. 00:13:36.879 --> 00:13:40.100 It turns the empire from a myth into a functioning 00:13:40.100 --> 00:13:43.779 society. And recently, the museum has been taking 00:13:43.779 --> 00:13:46.220 that history on the road on a scale we haven't 00:13:46.220 --> 00:13:48.519 seen before. The China connection. The glory 00:13:48.519 --> 00:13:51.340 of ancient Persia exhibition. This toured China 00:13:51.340 --> 00:13:55.379 in 2024 and early 2025. The numbers were just 00:13:55.379 --> 00:13:58.019 staggering. I saw this stat and I had to double 00:13:58.019 --> 00:14:01.580 check it. 50 million visitors. Over 50 million. 00:14:01.659 --> 00:14:04.139 It was the biggest exhibition abroad in the museum's 00:14:04.139 --> 00:14:06.440 history. That's the population of a medium -sized 00:14:06.440 --> 00:14:08.539 country walking through an exhibit of Persian 00:14:08.539 --> 00:14:11.039 history. It shows the massive global interest. 00:14:11.620 --> 00:14:14.039 It suggests the museum isn't just sitting in 00:14:14.039 --> 00:14:16.379 Tehran waiting for visitors. It's aggressively 00:14:16.379 --> 00:14:19.940 exporting its culture, using soft power in a 00:14:19.940 --> 00:14:22.639 very effective way. So when we look at the National 00:14:22.639 --> 00:14:26.019 Museum of Iran today in 2026, it seems like it's 00:14:26.019 --> 00:14:28.919 operating on two levels. It is. On one hand, 00:14:28.940 --> 00:14:32.059 it's the vault, the fortress in Tehran guarding 00:14:32.059 --> 00:14:34.960 the musterian tools and the gold of Marlik. It's 00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:37.080 the physical anchor of the nation's memory. And 00:14:37.080 --> 00:14:39.500 on the other hand, it's a diplomat. It's a traveler. 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:42.139 It's reclaiming stolen art from British airports 00:14:42.139 --> 00:14:44.200 and breaking attendance records in Shanghai. 00:14:44.899 --> 00:14:47.419 It's remarkably dynamic for an institution that 00:14:47.419 --> 00:14:49.700 deals with things that have been dead for thousands 00:14:49.700 --> 00:14:52.100 of years. It really is. It's a reminder that 00:14:52.100 --> 00:14:55.100 history isn't static. It moves. It gets smuggled. 00:14:55.100 --> 00:14:57.639 It gets returned. It goes on tour. And that raises 00:14:57.639 --> 00:15:00.100 an interesting question for us to chew on. What's 00:15:00.100 --> 00:15:03.259 that? Well, the museum holds over 3 million artifacts, 00:15:03.620 --> 00:15:06.620 but only a fraction around 300 ,000 are typically 00:15:06.620 --> 00:15:09.789 on display in Tehran. Yet one exhibition in China 00:15:09.789 --> 00:15:13.029 reached 50 million people. So, in the 21st century, 00:15:13.210 --> 00:15:15.529 where does the true power of a national museum 00:15:15.529 --> 00:15:19.389 lie? Is it inside the walls of that beautiful 00:15:19.389 --> 00:15:23.210 brick building André Godard designed? Or is its 00:15:23.210 --> 00:15:25.570 true power in its ability to leave those walls 00:15:25.570 --> 00:15:27.580 and travel the world? That's a big question. 00:15:27.679 --> 00:15:30.360 Is the museum the building or is the museum the 00:15:30.360 --> 00:15:32.320 story it tells, wherever it tells it? I think 00:15:32.320 --> 00:15:34.139 the answer is changing right in front of us. 00:15:34.179 --> 00:15:35.940 Something to think about next time you walk into 00:15:35.940 --> 00:15:38.620 a gallery or see a video of a jumping goat on 00:15:38.620 --> 00:15:41.940 your feed. Indeed. That's all for this deep dive 00:15:41.940 --> 00:15:44.899 into the time capsule of Tehran. Thanks for listening 00:15:44.899 --> 00:15:46.379 and we'll catch you on the next one.