When Iranian media published details of plans to establish a second branch of the national museum in the basement of the Ayatollah Khomeini mausoleum in early August, it raised many questions and concerns.

ADI’s Dr Ali Mozaffari, whose work straddles the disciplines of anthropology, critical heritage studies, and architecture in Iran, West Asia and the Middle East, examines some of these concerns in a new article on the Radio Farda website.

While some question the ability to adequately maintain the collection at the proposed site, others believe the mausoleum site has been proposed only to further build the cult of personality around Khomeini. If nothing else, the uproar caused by the reports demonstrate the sensitivities around cultural heritage within Iranian society.

Read the article here.