A few years ago due to fluctuations in the level of the Caspian Sea in the last decade, a shipwreck has been exposed from under the coastal sand near the Miankaleh peninsula. 

The Azadi Tower, formerly known as the Shahyad (a translation of King Memorial Tower), is the symbol of Tehran and marks the entrance to the city.

It is becoming very common to see defaced Iranian banknotes. There are so many in circulations with rubber stamps or even printed personal slogans and messages on them. According to Iranian Central Bank, the life span of a banknote is about 5 years, while in other countries it is about 10 years.

With the destruction of Lalehzar's oldest theaters not much of its historic buildings will remain. These pictures show the last remnants of Lalehzar's once great buildings and its historic past. (→ See old Lalezar avenue)

Constructed in the 1880s, Lalezar avenue - also known as "Champs-Elysées of Tehran"- was once a symbol of modernity in a pre-modern country. There were many well-known theatres, restaurants, nightclubs, bars, cinemas and shops in Lalezar Avenue. (→ See today's Lalezar Avenue)

Congratulating and complimenting others has been a long tradition among Iranians but publishing congratulatory messages in newspapers and placing of banners and signs in highly visible public places is a new popular phenomenon. These signs and ads, especially the ones that have been written on banners, may not be common anywhere else in the world.

A collection of pre-revolutionary Iranian cigarettes made in the years between the 1920s and 1978.

No anatomical illustrations of the entire human body are preserved from the Islamic world before those which accompany the Persian treatise composed by Mansur ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Yusuf ibn Ilyas, who came from a Persian family of scholars and physicians working in the city of Shiraz.

A collection of propaganda posters, published by the British during the World War II, in Persian for distribution in Iran. The posters's dimensions are about 76cm X 50cm. These posters are preserved in Imperial War Museums.

Akhbar magazine (meaning "News") was a monthly magazine published by the Embassy of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in Iran. These pages are from issues number 5 and 6, published in May and June of 1980 and have been provided by Mehrdad Kashani.

"Regained Glory" (published in 1974, illustrated by Dino Attanasio) is a comic book that narrates the official pro-Shah history of post-WWII Iran up to early 1970s. The book is targeted towards the young adults.

These photographs show one of the earliest performances of a Western-style play in Iran. The play was Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice performed in Zoroastrians Club in Tehran , April 19, 1928. Majid Rezvani was the director. Arbab Aflatoon, a Zoroastrian, was the Merchant of Venice, and Kazem Bakhtiari acted as a female character. In those days the Iranian women still could not act in the plays yet. * Photographer: Jahangir Mossavar Rahmani- From the personal collection of Yadollah Rezvani.

Unlike the tidy, clean and organized supermarkets in the west, each shop in Tehran has its own special character. Shopkeepers uniquely decorate their shop and use every inch of their usually tiny space to store as many items as possible.
The photographs and description by Kamyar Adl. All pictures taken between 2006 and 2011.

These love messages on two postcards are dated April 18 and November 17, 1912 . Both postcards belong to the personal collection of Yadollah Rezvani.

This Iranian bicycle license was issued in 1930 and owned by Jafar Rezvani. The license includes the regulations for owning and using bicycles. * From the personal collection of Yadollah Rezvani.