TEHRAN -- Tehran’s Red Crescent Museum, where works by Iranian sculptor Ali-Akbar Sanati are being kept, has been closed.

The museum has been closed for cleaning since last week (December 22), former director of the museum Matin Mozaffarpur told the Persian service of MNA on Sunday, adding that the opening date has not yet been announced.
Matinpur has also been dismissed and has taken a new title at the Public Relations Office of the Red Crescent.
The museum in Tehran is located on Imam Khomeini Square (Tupkhaneh). It was reopened on August 29 but the building was undergoing renovation and the artworks were being kept under unsuitable conditions.
The museum houses busts and statues of world famous figures such as Mahatma Gandhi, Shah Abbas, Mohammad-Taqi Bahar, and Nader Shah Afshar.
This is while the works are in danger and the president had agreed to transfer the items to Kerman, birthplace of the master, director of the Cultural Commission of Kerman City Council Zahra Lori had previously announced.
However, Sanati’s son Mohammad disagreed with the process of transferring the items to Kerman, believing that the works are too large and would be damaged enroute.
Museum officials had asked Red Crescent officials to reconsider the issue and pursue the case. They were due to hold a session with Sanati family and several other artists but it was postponed.
Sanati was born in 1916 in Kerman. He lost his father at an early age and his mother was forced to send him to an orphanage. His talent in painting was evident in childhood, and the director of the orphanage sent him to Tehran to continue his studies.
Sanati studied at the Kamalolmolk School where he was taught by master painters Abolhassan Sediqi, Ali-Mohammad Heydarian, Hossein Khan Sheikhi, and Ali Rokhsar.
He established a museum in 1946 at Imam Khomeini Square and transferred it to the then Red Lion and Sun Society (now called the Red Crescent Society).
However, his museum in Tupkhaneh was ransacked by rioters during the coup that toppled the nationalist government of prime minister Mohammad Mossadeq in 1953, and most of his sculptures were destroyed.
Former president Mohammad Khatami awarded Ali-Akbar Sanati an honorary degree in art for his 60 years of dedicated service.
Creations by Sanati consist of over 1,000 paintings and 400 sculptures, some of which are kept in Tehran and some remain in Kerman.
Sanati died in Tehran on April 2. He was 90 years old.