Abadan Museum (Khuzestan)

Due to the oil production and its ancient civilization, Abadan is one of the most famous cities in the south of Iran. Ali Hannibal, the late Russian orientalist, who was extremely passionate about the Iranian civilization, language, literature and culture, changed his name form Arkadi Nestrovich Honnibal to Ali Hannibal after immigration to Iran and a change in his religion. He suggested several museums to be established in different cities of Iran one of the which was Abadan. It is the second museum of Iran started to be erected in 1959 with the aid of Ali Hannibal, in collaboration with Oil Company. The architecture of the museum is inspired by the traditional architecture in the south of Iran. With a dome of 22.5 meters height, it is represented the Tomb of Daniel in Susa. The constructing operations initiated in 1800-square-meter build-up area and it was eventually opened in 1961. There were originally four halls for exhibiting the collections of archaeology, ethnography and national arts however, it continued to work in a main hall and two secondary halls, after a period of closure. The main hall is the place of the permanent exhibition where objects of Susa (the first millennium B.C.), a gray spherical spouted container which was made using pottery wheel, bronze figurines, animal statues, the spouted jar and horse bridle all related to Elamite civilization are on display. In addition, some objects belonged to Safavid and Qajar periods are also exhibited in the permanent exhibition. One of the secondary halls of the museum is dedicated to the temporary exhibitions where the collections of ethnography, the cloths and costumes of people in Khuzestan and Arab, Bakhtiari, Qashqaei and other tribes are usually presented. The other hall is dedicated to the library and conference hall. The museum collection was gathered and transferred to a safe place, when the Iran-Iraq war started in 1980s, in order to be saved against the enemy’s invasions. The museum was then closed for almost fifteen years until 2003, September 27, which was reopened at the same day as anniversary of breaking the Abadan siege. The museum is placed in Northern Boarde Neighborhood, in the southwestern side of Petroleum Collage of Abadan. 

Address: 15 Asli-Ahmadabad Street

Phone Number: 053341314

Hours: spring and summer (9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.) autumn and winter (8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.)