The National Museum of the Islamic Revolution and Sacred Defense was built in the Abbas-Abad area (Tehran) to preserve and communicate the experiences, narratives, and lessons of the Iran‑Iraq War for future generations. In recent decades, countries that have experienced war at some point in their history have designed and opened war museums to present their own narrative of the conflict. Among them, the United Kingdom has the highest number of war museums— nearly 358. The most important one is the Imperial War Museum North in Manchester, which opened in 2000 and depicts the history of major British wars from 1914 to 2000.⁠[1] The Museum of the Great Patriotic War in Moscow is also one of the world’ s most famous war museums. It opened in 1993 and is dedicated to the history of World War II from 1941 to 1945.⁠[2]

In Iran, after the end of the Iraq-Iran War, the construction of museums began in the early 1990s, and museums have since been inaugurated in various cities and provinces.

Sacred Defense museums serve as centers to reflect the sacrifices and efforts of the Iranian nation in resisting the enemy’ s military invasion. They recall the bravery of individuals who courageously defended their national and religious values. These museums are valuable places for passing on past events and experiences to future generations. Beyond narrating a historical event, they also play a role in cultural education.⁠[3]

The National Museum of the Islamic Revolution and Sacred Defense in Tehran Province is the largest military museum in the Islamic World and the most modern museum in West Asia. With a total built area of 205,000 square meters, it was completed in 30 months and inaugurated in 2012 by the Tehran Municipality’ s Cultural Spaces Development Company in the Abbas-Abad.⁠[4] The project was led by Zhila Norouzi, an Iranian architect.⁠[5]

The complex is composed of two sections, the Garden Museum and the Garden Valley. The Garden Valley functions as a recreational pedestrian corridor, with its sloping sides housing exhibition spaces alongside open-air museum, service, and support facilities. The Garden Museum is built on a series of hills overlooking the Garden Valley and Taleqani Park, and it encompasses the main museum building.⁠[6]

The designer’ s central concept for the Garden Museum is to guide visitors on a gradual journey from violence toward an experience of peace and tranquility. Therefore, jagged and harsh lines were used, which ultimately led to regular, harmonious geometric lines as the main axis of a Persian garden. According to the designer, the ultimate goal of the Sacred Defense was to attain the Quranic vision of paradise, and the Persian garden is itself a manifestation of that paradise. Consequently, the Persian garden was adopted as the central design concept.⁠[7]

Unlike Sacred Defense museums in other Iranian cities— which mostly display military equipment and hardware and pay less attention to conceptual dimensions— this museum promotes the culture of resistance by focusing on the conceptual aspects of Sacred Defense through modern artistic media. No single type of artifact or object (tangible war items, documents, photos, statistics, historical information, or artistic works) is presented in isolation; instead, various forms of contemporary art— especially conceptual art, due to its inherent expressive and communicative qualities— are used to explain the concept of Sacred Defense, the culture of resistance, and their concrete examples.⁠[8]

The Garden Museum complex comprises a wide range of cultural, educational, and recreational facilities. These include the museum and the Panorama of Resistance dedicated to Martyr Major General Qasem Soleimani; a zip‑line; the National Museum of the Islamic Revolution and Sacred Defense; a 5D cinema; an open‑air museum; military equipment displays; and a specialized library. The site also features Hoor al‑Azim Lake and its water elements, a memorial to unidentified martyrs, a flag tower, an international conference center, art galleries, and the museum of martyred nuclear scientists’ vehicles. Other components include the garden pathway, the Museum of Tehran Province’ s Role in the Sacred Defense, the National Museum of Children and Youth in the Islamic Revolution and Sacred Defense, the National Museum of Women in the Islamic Revolution and Sacred Defense, and the Virtual Research Institute of the Islamic Revolution and Sacred Defense.⁠[9]

The museum also regularly holds festivals and exhibitions on various occasions.⁠[10]

Initially, the National Garden Museum of the Islamic Revolution and Sacred Defense was planned as a complementary “ software” section of a larger project called the “ Grand Sacred Defense Museum”, to be built next to the holy shrine of Imam Khomeini (ra) in Shahr-e Aftab.⁠[11] However, the two projects were eventually merged at the current location, and research projects related to the Islamic Revolution and Sacred Defense that had been completed under this initiative were transferred to the museum’ s Virtual Research Institute of the Islamic Revolution and Sacred Defense.

The museum’ s statute was approved by the Supreme Leader in 2016. The Board of Trustees includes: the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces (Chairman), the Mayor of Tehran (Vice Chairman), Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Commander-in-Chief of Law Enforcement Forces, Minister of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, Head of IRIB, Head of the Foundation for the Preservation of Works and Dissemination of Sacred Defense Values (Secretary of the Board), Head of the Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs, Chairman of the Tehran City Council, and three real members from among prominent scientific, cultural, artistic personalities and Sacred Defense commanders.⁠[12] The Board of Directors consists of the Head of the Foundation for the Preservation of Works and Dissemination of Sacred Defense Values (Chairman), the Managing Director of the National Museum of the Islamic Revolution and Sacred Defense, Tehran Municipality’ s Deputy for Social and Cultural Affairs, Tehran Municipality’ s Deputy for Finance and Urban Economy, three permanent and alternate real members from among Sacred Defense commanders and scientific, cultural, and artistic figures.⁠[13]

Currently, separate tickets for visiting the museum and the Panorama of Resistance dedicated to Martyr Major General Qasem Soleimani, as well as the National Museum of the Islamic Revolution and Sacred Defense, can be purchased online in individual or group formats for 12,000 tomans. Discounts are available for veterans, martyrs’ families, freed prisoners of war, active military personnel, university students, school pupils, seminary students, and the families of martyrs and veterans with over 70 percent disability.⁠[14]