The director of Golestan Palace has said the Palaces famous Hall of Diamonds will be opened to public in mid May.[/caption]TEHRAN, March 19 (MNA) The director of Golestan Palace has said the Palaces famous Hall of Diamonds will be opened to public in mid May.
Parvin Seqatoleslami told Mehr News that except Hall of Diamonds, other museums of the Palace were open to the public; about the Hall of Diamonds, we now suffer from the lack of security guards; furthermore, buying necessary protective facilities and technology are very expensive; the budget in our disposal would not be enough to buy lavish modern facilities to set the special passageway for visitors, she told Mehr News. Buying these facilities and items would cost the Palace budget $ 8800; to prepare the many items of the Hall is a very time-consuming and demanding task; they should be carefully placed and protected and should not be subject to the public curiosity, said the director, however admitting that by mid May, the hall will be opened to the public.
Before the Hall had been built, another hall, Crystal Hall, was on the current site. Little credible sources provide data on Crystal Hall which belonged to the era of Fathali Shah of Qajar. Present material provides the reader no more than mere name and very few details of the Hall. No picture of the Hall has come down to us, which otherwise, would have helped prepare the preliminary sketch of the Hall.
The Hall was called by its name Crystal, for lavish glass work or meenakari by craftsmen, anoctagonal crystal pool, and chandelier sent by Russian emperor Alexander the First as gift for Fathali Shah of Qajar. However, during the reign of Naser al-Din Shah, many old edifices of the Arc were demolished and new buildings were erected on the site. Crystal Hall, to the most probability, underwent a similar fate and Hall of Diamonds replaced Crystal Hall.
By Mehr News Agency
