TEHRAN—A total of 31 film reels from Qajar era has been discovered in the UNESCO-designated Golestan Palace, located in downtown Tehran.
According to related officials those works are likely to be some of the first captured images in Iranian history and even the beginning of Iranian cinema.
According to Mehr news agency, Afarin Emami, director of the Golestan Palace World Heritage site, said that while organizing and preserving the objects in Album Khaneh (album house) and examining boxes of film reels from a collection called raw film that had been recorded in the past, 31 film reels containing images from the Qajar period were identified.
She said that these works include 28 reels of 35mm film and three reels of 16mm film, which have been identified by experts and the trustee of the Album House of Golestan Palace.
Emami added that more time and expert studies are needed to accurately identify and examine the content of these films.
She emphasized the importance of these historical works and noted: “These films, in addition to the films of the Mozaffari era, can provide researchers and enthusiasts with valuable and new information about the understanding of the Qajar era and the atmosphere of that time, and even influence the view of the early history of Iranian cinema.”
Based on this news, the Album House of Golestan Palace keeps more than 61,000 historical artifacts, including Qajar cameras and films, photo albums, photographs, paintings, glass negatives, and other related works. This collection is considered the second and most important album house in the world.
The royal album house features 1,040 old photo albums taken by famous photographers lived in Qajar times as well as more than 4,000 single pictures in small and large sizes providing a rare and rich treasury of pictorial documents about the history and society of Iran and the world in the 18th and 19th centuries CE.
This album house is indeed regarded as the second-best reservoir of old photos after the album house of the Royal Museum of Britain and can be considered as one of the best resources for historical research of the time. In fact, it was founded based on documentation of great cities of Iran and abroad during the trips of Naser al-Din Shah and Mozaffar al-Din Shah to Europe.
KD
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