TEHRAN EXHIBIT HANGS PHOTOS OF LAST QAJAR CROWN PRINCE

Mehr News Agency (MNA), Iran
August 15, 2013 Thursday

TEHRAN, Aug. 15 (MNA) â-The Iran Photo Museum, which also known as
Axkhaneh Shahr, has showcased a collection of photos of the last Qajar
crown prince, Mohammad-Hassan Mirza (1899â-1943), at an exhibition.

The collection comprises 36 photos, which have been taken by Yusef
Khan, an Armenian photographer who lived in the northwestern Iranian
city of Tabriz.

The exhibition runs until September 14 at Axkhaneh Shahr, which is
located on Bahar Shiraz St. near Haft-e Tir Square.

Mohammad-Hassan Mirza was the brother of the last monarch of the Qajar
dynasty, Ahmed Shah (reigned 1909-1925). Since Ahmed Shah had no child,
Mohammad-Hassan Mirza was selected as crown prince.

Soon after Reza Shah, the founder of the Pahlavi dynasty (1925-1979),
deposed the Qajar dynasty and made himself Shah of Iran in 1925,
Mohammad-Hassan and his family were sent into permanent exile to
England.

Malek-Qasem Mirza, a Qajar prince who was one of the many sons of
Qajar king Fat’hali Shah, was the first Iranian who took a photo in
Iran. Before or at the same time, Jules Richard, a French teacher
for an Iranian family, snapped a picture with a daguerreotype camera.

The advent of photographic art in Iran occurred about five years after
its invention in 1839 during the last years of Qajar king Mohammad
Shah’s reign.

Afterwards, Nasser ad-Din Shah showed great interest in photography
and sent several groups of talented students from Dar-ul-Fonun,
the Iranian polytechnic institute established in 1851, to European
academies to learn the art.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress