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Abkar Miniature Museum
The Abkar Miniature Museum is a small, specialist museum that displays miniatures by the artist Clara Abkar.
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Aks Khaneh
The Aks Khaneh is one of the highlights of the Golestan complex. The photographs depicting Qajar court life are fascinating; look particularly for the picture showing the inside of a Zoroastrian tower of silence, with bodies in varying states of decay, and the shot of 'freaks and dwarfs'.
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Carpet Museum
The two floors of the Carpet Museum house more than 100 pieces from all over Iran, dating from the 17th century to the present day; the older carpets are mostly upstairs. The museum itself was designed by Queen Farah Diba and mixes '70s-era style with carpet-inspired function - the exterior is meant to resemble threads on a loom, which cool down the main building by casting shadows on its walls. You will often see weavers working on a loom on the ground floor and questions are welcome.
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Ethnographical Museum
The Ethnographical Museum is near the main entrance to the Golestan Palace complex. The world's slowest renovation has lasted more than three years so far, but staff told us it should be open in 2009, insh ' Allah (if God wills it).
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Glass & Ceramics Museum
The impressive Glass & Ceramics Museum is housed in a beautiful Qajar-era building. Built as a private residence for a prominent Persian family, it later housed the Egyptian embassy and was converted into a museum in 1976.
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Golestan Palace Complex
In what was once the heart of Tehran is this monument to the glories and excesses of the Qajar rulers. A short walk south from Imam Khomeini Sq, the is made up of several grand buildings set around a carefully manicured garden. Admission isn't expensive but, annoyingly, you must buy a separate ticket for each building, and all at the front gate. If you ask, they might also give you an informative printed guide.
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Howze Khaneh
The Howze Khaneh is named for the small pool and fountain in the centre of the room. It houses a collection of paintings and sculptures of 19th-century European royalty - generously given to their Qajar counterparts by the same European monarchs.
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Iran Ebrat Museum
There is nothing subtle about the Ebrat Museum, a one-time prison of the shah's brutal secret police that now exhibits that brutality with an equal measure of pro-revolution propaganda. The prison is an incongruously attractive building, wings radiating from a circular centre. But what went on here was not attractive at all.
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Iranian Photographers' Centre
The Iranian Photographers' Centre has rolling exhibits of the work of local and, occasionally, international photographers. The adjoining shop sells and processes slide film and sells pro equipment. Not surprisingly, it's a good place to meet Iranian photographers.
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Mehrva Gallery
Below the popular Café Hafta-do Hasht, English-speaking Mehrva's gallery exhibits contemporary art in a mix of media, but primarily painting and photography.
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Military Museum
The Military Museum is housed inside and around another palace that belonged to the shah's nephew Shahram; just look for the helicopter.
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Mir Emad Calligraphy Museum
The Mir Emad Calligraphy Museum houses samples of Iranian calligraphy from different periods.
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Museum of Ethnological Research
The Museum of Ethnological Research is a small, specialist museum with a waxworks and ethnological artefacts.
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Museum of Fine Arts
The Museum of Fine Arts is in one of the more impressive buildings and houses some charming Persian oil paintings dating back to the 18th century and some beautiful inlaid furniture.
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Museum of the Islamic Period
This museum had been closed for some time when we passed, but staff assured us it was due to reopen in 2008. When it does, you'll find a modern building containing two floors of exhibits from a selection of Islamic arts, including calligraphy, carpets, ceramics, woodcarving, stone carving, miniatures, brickwork and textiles.
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National Jewels Museum
Owned by the Central Bank but actually housed underneath the central branch of Bank Melli, this museum is probably the biggest tourist drawcard in Tehran. If you've already visited the art gallery at the Golestan Palace you will have seen the incredible jewellery with which the Safavid and Qajar monarchs adorned themselves. Come here to gawp at the real things.
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National Museum of Iran
The modest National Museum of Iran is no Louvre, but it is chock-full of Iran's rich history and should be on every visitor's list of things to see in Tehran. The contents will probably mean more to you if you come here after you've seen the main archaeological sites - particularly Persepolis - so you might want to wait until the end of your trip.
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Negar Khane
The Negar Khane displays a fine collection of Qajar-era art. It was the brainchild of Nasser al-Din Shah, who'd been particularly captivated by European museums. Especially interesting are the portraits of the shahs wearing the jewels and crowns you can see in the National Jewels Museum, and pictures of everyday life in 19th-century Iran by Kamal ol-Molk and Mehdi. Women were certainly wearing chadors back then, too. The difference is that the men were also swaddled in three layers of clothing. Well worth a look.
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Niyavaran Palace Museum
The Niyavaran Palace Museum is where Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his family spent most of the last 10 years of royal rule. It's set in five hectares of landscaped gardens and has four separate museums (Sahebqaranieh, Jahan-Nama Museum & Gallery, Niyavaran Palace, and Ahmad Shahi Pavilion) - tickets must be bought individually at the main gate.
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Reza Abbasi Museum
Named after one of the great artists of the Safavid period, the Reza Abbasi Museum showcases Iranian art from ancient times and the Safavid-era paintings of Abbasi himself. If you like Iranian art, it's one of the best and most professionally run museums in the country.
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Sa'd Abad Museum Complex
The Sa'd Abad Museum Complex was once the royal summer home and is set on 104 hectares of spectacular mountainside parkland. There are more than 10 buildings scattered around the site and to see them all you'll need at least three hours; combining a visit here with lunch in nearby Darband is a good idea. (If pushed for time, the White and Green Palaces are the most highly recommended.)
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Seyhoun Art Gallery
In its fourth decade as a sponsor of young Iranian contemporary artists, Seyhoun has regular exhibitions of painting, photography, sculpture and graphic art in its distinctive, black-fronted gallery.
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Shohada Museum
The Shohada Museum has rolling exhibitions of photographs, usually from the Iran-Iraq War or the 1979 revolution. Located diagonally opposite the US Den of Espionage.
