Saadabad Palace, a Must-See Complex in Tehran 

Thinking of Tehran Province as a metropolitan capital, you may consider it a populated city with heavy traffic. Although it is true, there are also lots of magnificent museums and palaces that are truly worth visiting. Here we are going to briefly introduce the stunning Saadabad Palace in Tehran, where the last royal family of the country used to live.

Like other Iranian palaces, Saadabad Palace in Tehran is one of the most amazing Tehran attractions; you may visit on a historical tour in Tehran. Offering a magnificent atmosphere as well as an eye-catching architecture, the Saadabad complex in Tehran is a must-see site you may not want to lose on your Tehran travel. There are also a large number of precious artworks exhibited in Saadabad Palace Iran as well. Although it is not an easy task to describe Saadabad Palace in such a short entry, you can keep up with us to know more about Saadabad Palace in the following piece.

Where is the Saadabad Palace?

The Saadabad Palace is located in a well-positioned area in the northern Tehran, Shemiran area. The Sa’dabad complex is confined with the Alborz Mountains in the north, with the Darband district in the east, with the Velenjak region in the west, and with Tajrish Square and bazaar in the south. Saadabad complex in Tehran covers an area of 110 hectares. Here is a short Saadabad Palace description you can follow to know more about the site.

The History of Saadabad Palace:

The cultural and historical Saadabad Palace Complex, dating back to the Qajar and Pahlavi eras, when the country was on the road to modernity. The Sa’dabad complex was initially constructed and inhabited by the Qajar dynasty in the 19th century to be used as a summer palace of the royal family.
Later in the Pahlavi era, specifically during the Reza Shah dynasty, Tehran Saadabad Palace was developed and extended to become the royal residential of his family in the 1920s. His son, Mohammad Reza Shah, also lived in Saadabad Palace Tehran in the 1970s.

During the Pahlavi era, on various occasions, palettes and villas were added to the major structure of the Sa’dabad complex, and finally, eighteen different palaces were constructed in the area, each in a different architectural style and technique.
After the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Saadabad Palace became a public museum, and the main parts of it are open to the visitors currently. Tehran Saadabad Palace is now under the operation of the Cultural Heritage Organization of Iran.

Museums and Buildings in Saadabad Palace:

The cultural and historical complex of Saadabad Palace Tehran consists of 17 palaces, museums, and halls. However, only ten Saadabad Palace museums are open to the public as follow:

One of the Saadabad Palaces, The Green Palace, was used by Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, as a private palace, where his private meetings took place.

1. Saadabad the Green Palace:

The Green Palace in Saadabad was the first palace constructed in the Saadabad complex in Tehran during the Pahlavi dynasty under the command of Reza Shah. Due to the magnificent color of its façade, the building is called the ‘Green Palace’. A collection of Persian arts like mirror marquetry, Persian carpets, illumination, and plasterwork are among the fine examples exhibited in this astonishing museum-palace. Mohammad Reza Shah used this monument as his private palace, where his private meetings took place.

2. Mellat Palace:

Mellat Palace is the most popular site in the Saadabad Palace Complex. It is a two-story building with several large rooms, which were applied as residence and office of Reza Shah Pahlavi and his son. The rooms were used as the sitting room, waiting room, reception hall, dining hall, and bedroom. You can see some beautiful artworks, such as figurines and chinaware, in different showcases all over the house as well. Furniture, chandeliers, and paintings are mostly from European countries. There are also four big mural paintings in this section of Saadabad Palace with the subjects of well-known Iranian myths.

3. Mellat Museum:

This collection in Saad Abad Palace Iran consists of artworks done by the Iranian artists as well as non-Iranian ones from all the four corners of the world. You can see the artworks from African, India, Far Eastern, Eskimo, and Mayan artists as well. These items represent the history of Iranian civilization and art, especially during the pre-Islamic era.

A large number of Iranian miniature paintings as well as the paintings of great western artists, such as Salvador Dali, Peter Graham, Ivanovic Shishkin, and Joule Berton are exhibited in the Fine Arts Museum of Saadabad Palace.

4. Fine Arts Museum:

One of the most interesting museums at the Saadabad Palace complex is the Fine Arts Museum. This building was constructed during Reza Shah Reign, and it is decorated with black marble stones from ValiAbad in Chaloos (Mazandaran province) and was therefore called “Black Palace”. There are numerous beautiful paintings in this Saadabad Palace Museum, with both western and eastern styles exhibited to Tehran tours.
The Fine Arts Museum consists of artworks done by the most recent famous Iranian painters, such as Sohrab Sepehri, Hossein Mahjobi, Faramarz Pil Aram, Hossein Zende Roodi. There are also some miniature paintings painted by Masters Hossein Behzad and Kelara Abkar, as well as beautiful manuscripts written by Master Mir Emad Hassani Ghazvini, the great Iranian artists in the Safavid dynasty (1501-1722) and the Qajar era (1794-1925).
In the remaining sections of this Saadabad Palace Museum, there are western paintings from the 17th to the 20th century as well, including some works by famous painters, such as Salvador Dali, Peter Graham, Ivanovic Shishkin, and Joule Berton.

5. Master Behzad Museum:

Behzad Museum is one of the most popular places at Saadabad Palace Tehran Iran. This museum is devoted to the Iranian miniatures painted by Hossein Behzad (1895-1968), who made a revolution in Iranian painting. Behzad studied European art and was inspired by Kamal-ed-din Behzad and Reza Abbasi. He introduced a new style of a miniature on paper, hard paper, or fiberboard. His style is purely Iranian, but it has kept on with its contemporary paces and changes of art in universal art schools.

6. Museum of Anthropology:

The lifestyle and customs of Iranians through the history are displayed from a cultural perspective at this magnificent museum in the Saadabad Palace Complex. In a vast area on two floors, various objects are exhibited like tools of irrigation, agriculture, fishing, and hunting, as well as agricultural documents, clothes, lighting tools, and handicrafts.

7. Abkar Museum:

The miniatures in this museum of Sa’dabad Complex are works of a 20th-century artist called Klara Abkar, who had her particular style in painting. Her source of inspiration was the rich Iranian literature and mysticism. Her works take the visitors to a world of spirituality and a poem-like or light-music-like harmony that gives everyone’s eyes peace and tranquility.

8. Mir Emad Museum:

The main subject of this museum is the most prominent post-Islamic Iranian art known as calligraphy. There are plenty of various calligraphic styles of writing on paper and parchment, belonging to the 10th to 19th centuries. Mir Emad, the most well-known 18th century calligrapher, has been introduced to the world of art by his fantastic calligraphic works. In some cases, some calligraphy-related arts like illumination, painting, etc. are exhibited in Saadabad Palace Museum as well.

9. Water Museum:

This museum is an exhibition of ancient and traditional techniques and instruments for water supplement and distribution. Various water-related vernacular structures are introduced to visitors, such as water reservoirs and traditional icehouses. Some ancient water dams and royal orders concerning them are presented in Saadabad Palace Museum as well.

10. Military Museum:

Museums and exhibitions at Tehran Saadabad Palace are not only about art and culture but military equipment as well. At the Military Museum in Saadabad Palace Tehran, the Iranian military uniforms from Achaemenians up to the present time are exhibited. The weaponry on display consists of some unsophisticated ones used in the ancient times until the firearms periods. Part of the history of the Iraqi-imposed war against Iran (1980-1988) is also exposed to visitors here.