TEHRAN - Iran’s Dafineh Museums Institute on Wednesday unveiled a special museum card that will allow holders to visit participating museums across the country, with organizers aiming to expand the scheme beyond the institute’s own museums through partnerships with public and private institutions.

The card was introduced during a ceremony at the Mostazafan Foundation headquarters in Tehran, where museum officials said it was designed to encourage museum visits and create a unified network among Iran’s museums.

Hamidreza Soleimani, chief executive of the Mostazafan Foundation’s museum group, said Iran has about 1,000 active museums operating largely as separate networks.

“The card can create synergy among museums and present the country’s cultural and heritage capacities in an integrated way,” Soleimani said. He added that many private museums had already expressed interest in joining the initiative with the support of the Iranian National Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM Iran).

He said the card had deliberately been named “Museum Card” rather than “Dafineh Museum Card” so that all museums would be able to participate in the program.

Katayoun Plassaeidi, chair of the board of the Dafineh Museums Institute, said the card was being introduced for the first time in Iran and was intended to make museum visits a regular part of family cultural activities.

She said the institute planned to sign agreements with organizations so they could provide the cards to employees. The first phase covers museums managed by the Dafineh Museums Institute, while additional museums are expected to join later.

Plassaeidi said the cards would be offered at discounted rates and could also be purchased directly by the public through the institute’s website for access to participating museums.

Ahmad Mohit Tabatabaei, head of the national association of museums of Iran, said cooperation among museums to attract visitors was a positive development and noted that the scheme could also benefit smaller museums. He cited an earlier municipal visitor card covering three historical towers in Tehran, saying it had helped introduce lesser-known sites such as the Toghrul Tower to visitors.

Mohsen Mir, head of the Sa’dabad Palace Complex, said the palace complex had recently collaborated with the Dafineh Museums Institute to stage an exhibition of works by Iranian artist Mahmoud Farshchian. Mir also said that historical artifacts in museums managed by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage had been transferred to secure locations before the 12-day conflict, preventing damage to the collections.

The Dafineh Museums Institute manages the Dafineh Museums Institute, which operates under the Mostazafan Foundation of Islamic Revolution and oversees a number of museums and cultural collections in Iran.

AM