Tehran’s Imam Khomeini street, formerly Sepah street, plays host to a number of major buildings turned museums that are currently managed by banks.

National Jewelry Museum

Unparalleled in its diversity and containing unique valuables dating back to more than 500 years ago, the National Jewelry Museum is safeguarded and run by the Central Bank of Iran.

From centuries-old thrones to luminous jewels, the museum’s treasury boasts unexampled items that were originally collected at the behest of Safavid dynasty kings whose jewelry experts plucked them from the markets of India, and the Ottoman Empire, in addition to European nations such as France and Italy, and returned them to the then capital city of Isfahan beginning from the start of the 16th century.

The presence of Daria-i-Noor (Sea of Light), one of the largest cut diamonds in the world and the sister diamond to Kooh-i-Noor (Mountain of Light, currently part of the British Crown Jewels), and many other items means that putting a price on the collection would not be possible.

“Our motivation in presenting these jewels is to create better understanding of the culture and history of Iran and to learn from the outcome of those who oppress and amass wealth,” the central bank says.

Bank Melli Museum

More than a century ago, one of the most beautiful and elegant residential units of Tehran was built to host many of the courtiers of the Qajar dynasty and their foreign guests.

After being repurposed and completed in the following decades to include the headquarters of Bank Melli Iran (now the biggest Iranian bank), the building was finally branded with its current name almost 40 years ago when a number of foreign banks bestowed it with exquisite gifts to mark its 50th founding anniversary.

It was closed to the public in the years following the Islamic Revolution in 1979, but was ultimately reopened in the summer of 2017. Virtual Tour

Bank Sepah’s Coin Museum

Run by Bank Sepah, the oldest Iranian bank still in operation, the Coin Museum is one of the richest and most valuable museums of its kind across the Middle East.

It was founded more than half a century ago by a former Bank Sepah chief executive who employed the services of Malakeh Malekzadeh Bayani, a renowned Sorbonne-graduated numismatist.

The museum’s collection contains coins, some dating back to centuries before the birth of Christ, that are indicative of economic, social, cultural and religious facts of various periods of the history of Iran and other nations.

Less than two years ago, the bank’s board of directors approved a new bigger space for the museum that includes three exhibition halls, a renovation workshop, a conference hall, and various shops. / Financial tribune/

Three Persian leopards have been captured on cameras near Izeh county in southwestern Khuzestan province.

Ahmadreza Lahijanzadeh, the head of Khuzestan’s office of the Department of Environment, said the rare species were spotted in the no-hunting mountainous areas of Izeh, raising hopes that their numbers may be increasing in the region.

The official noted that Middle Zagros, a part of Zagros Mountains straddled across Iran, Iraq and southeastern Turkey, are the main habitants of Persian leopards.

Lahijanzadeh added, the big cats were observed by the same park ranger who had captured the images of four Persian leopards in 2014 trotting together in Shimbar protected area near Andica, north of Khuzestan.

Persian leopards are among the most endangered species in the world. The animal has been listed as “endangered” in the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Iran is one of their main habitats.

Reduced prey population and shrinkage of their natural habitat are threatening the big cats. Bamou National Park in the southern Fars province is one of the main habitats of the Persian leopard.

Yesterday (Oct. 28), a Persian leopard was spotted in the mountainous habitats of Taleghan county, in Alborz province, northwest of Tehran. / MNA/

A fertilizer production company based in the central Iranian province of Markazi intends to transfer technical knowhow for producing the substance to Indonesia, a faculty member of province’s agricultural research body said on Saturday.
An MoU, which is worth $20 million and extendable if necessary in the future, has been signed with Indonesia to this end, said Hamidreza Dorri, a faculty member of the Agricultural and Resources Research and Education Center of Markazi Province, IRNA reported.

“Based on the agreement, the Iranian company is to transfer the technology to produce uremic fertilizer to Indonesia,” Dorri said.

“Indonesian farmlands have lost their fecundity in recent years due to excessive use of urea fertilizer,” he said.

He underlined that environmentally-friendly uremic fertilizer helps cut the use of urea in agro crops by 60 percent. / Iran daily /

Iranian author, film director and screenwriter Narges Abyar will judge at the Minsk International Film Festival Listapad in Belarus.

Narges Abyar, whose feature movie ‘Breath’ won the Children and Youth Film Competition Special Jury Award for Best Director and Best Young Actress Award at the 24th Minsk International Film Festival Listapad in Belarus last year, has been selected to judge at the 52nd edition of the Belarusian film which has begun on November 2.

Abyar has also won the Golden Wolf for best director for ‘Breath’ at the 20th Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn, Estonia in November 2016. She was also picked as best director for the film at the Vancouver International Women in Film Festival in the Canadian city in March 2017.

Minsk International Film Festival Listapad is annual event which takes place in November in Minsk, Belarus. The International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF) accredits the festival as a Competitive specialized film festival of Baltic countries, as well as countries of Central Asia, Central and Eastern Europe.

The festival also provides an educational platform for communication between cinema professionals. Varied workshops, discussions and exhibitions are held to provide an opportunity to learn from masters of cinema and to discuss significant problems related to the development of cinematography. / MNA /

Chief Executive of the Central Organization for Rural Cooperatives of Iran Hossein Shirzad said that Islamic Republic of Iran accounted for 96 percent share of saffron exports in the world in the last year (concluded March 20, 2018).

With producing more than 88 percent of saffron in the world, Islamic Republic of Iran stands at the first rank in the worldwide, he said and put Iran’s exports share of saffron in the world at 96 percent in the past year.

Speaking in a symposium entitled ‘Targeted Intervention Strategy in Saffron Market’, he maintained, “saffron should be priced logically within the framework of rules and regulations in order to get lion’s share at the target markets.”

Saffron price experienced a considerable decrease in the past year (ended March 20, 2018) in such a way that Central Organization for Rural Cooperatives of Iran, represented by the Ministry of Agriculture, purchased approx. 67 tons of saffron in various grades.

According to statistics, per capita consumption of saffron in Iran stands at one gram, he said and put the annual consumption rate of saffron in domestic consumer market at more than 80 tons.

Central Organization for Rural Cooperatives of Iran was set up in 1969 as Public Joint Stock Company with the aim of developing rural and agricultural and rural sectors. / MNA /

The 3rd Slemani Film Festival in Iraqi Kurdistan named its winners last night, giving out four awards, including Best Film and Best Director, to films representing Iranian cinema.

The 3rd Slemani International Film Festival kicked off on October 10 and wrapped up on October 16 in Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan.

The festival’s Best Director award went to Majid Majidi for ‘Beyond the Clouds’. The film is a 2017 Indian drama written and directed by Majidi with music composed by two-time Oscar winner A. R. Rahman and lensed by Anil Mehta. It tells the story of a brother and sister who grew up in the slums of Mumbai. When Tara (Mohanan) is arrested on charges of attempted murder, her bond with her brother Amir (Khatter) is put to the test.

‘3 Faces’ by Jafar Panahi won the Best Film award at the festival. The film stars actress Behnaz Jafari as herself, who becomes distraught when she comes across a young girl’s video plea for help after her family prevents her from taking up her studies at the Tehran drama conservatory. Behnaz abandons her shoot and turns to filmmaker Jafar Panahi to help with the young girl’s troubles.

Meanwhile, Navid Mohammadzadeh won the Best Actor award for ‘No Sign, No Signature’, directed by Vahid Jalilvand.

The drama narrates the story of a forensic pathologist Dr. Kaveh Nariman (played by Amir Aghaei), a principled and virtuous man, who gets involved in an accident and faces a dilemma of whether he is responsible for the death of a child or if the cause of death is unrelated to his doing.

‘No Date, No Signature’ has been selected as Iran’s submission for a foreign-language Academy Award in 2019.

The festival’s fourth award for Iranian titles went to Morteza Shams for his short film ‘Blister’. /MNA/

Iranian researchers produced an anti-fog glass-coating product via nanotechnology.When fogging occurs, thousands of tiny water droplets condense on glass and other surfaces. The droplets scatter light in random patterns, causing the surfaces to become translucent or foggy. This often occurs when a cold surface suddenly comes into contact with warm, moist air.

Iranian researchers produced a new coating via nanotechnology which prevents this process from occurring.

Fogged-up eyeglasses, helmet visors, camera lenses, skiing goggles, bathroom mirrors, shower screens, windshields will soon be a thing of the past; a new Iranian product will ensure better visibility in glassy things.

Fogged eyewear is a real pain and can be dangerous. Steaming on glasses in different places is one of the problems most people face.

Iranian researchers have used nanotechnology to produce anti-fogging coatings which prevent glassy surfaces from fogging or steaming up.

This product has a high shelf-life of up to 9 times of fogging up and has a self-cleansing nature.

The coating prevents fogging by attracting the water droplets and reducing their contact angles with the surface. As a result, the droplets merge into a uniform, transparent sheet rather than forming countless individual light-scattering spheres. /MNA /

Some five tons of caviar have been produced in the country since the beginning of current Iranian calendar year (March 21), the managing director of Agricultural Services Specialized Holding Company announced.

Abbas Rajaee said the country’s Sixth Five-Year National Development Plan (2016-2021) has envisaged the annual caviar output of 20 tons, IRIB reported.

He made the remarks on the sidelines of the 3rd edition of Iran’s International Fisheries Industry Exhibition (IFEX 2018) running from October 3 to 6 at the Tehran Permeant International Fairground. / Tehran times /