Saadabad Royal Complex the Summer Residence of Pahlavi

Saadabad Royal Complex the Summer Residence of Pahlavi belongs to the Qajar and Pahlavi periods. They are located at the northernmost point of Tehran and in the mountainous region of Darake in the north of Tehran. This royal collection is based on an area of 110 hectares. It has about 180 hectares of natural forest, springs, aqueducts, gardens, greenhouses, and streets.
The Saadabad complex has spent four historical periods of Qajar, Pahlavi, and Pahlavi II, and after the Iranian Revolution. Sa'ad Abad was built and completed during the Qajar and Pahlavi period and was the summer residence of their kings. This beautiful and spectacular complex has 18 palaces, which have remained from the Qajar and Pahlavi periods.

The Sad Abad Palace complex has 8 different gates by the names:

Gates to the complex
- Nezamie Gate, from which Reza Shah would enter the complex.
- Zaferanie Gate, Currently used by the presidency organization.
- Gate of Darband Street, from which the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi would enter the complex.
- Gate of Darband Square
- Ja'far Abad Gate (1st)
- Ja'far Abad Gate (2nd)
- River Gate
- The White House Gate

The main building of this complex are:

- Ahmad Shah Qajar Palace
- The Green Palace: (also known as the Shahvand House)

- The Mellat Museum: The White Palace, the former official residence of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and Empress Farah Diba.

- Museum of Natural History: The Special Palace, currently used by the presidency organization.

-  Museum of Fine Arts
-  The Black Palace
- Museum of Anthropology: Princess Shams Palace, named after Shams Pahlavi.

- Museum of Glassware and Handicrafts: Princess Ashraf Palace, named after the sister of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

- The building of Amendment 36 (a governmental agency) Prince Gholam Reza palace, named after Gholam Reza Pahlavi.

-Palace of the King Mother: Currently used by the presidency organization.

- Prince Ahmad Reza Palace, named after 2nd son of Reza Shah: Currently used by the presidency organization.

- Administration of the complex: Prince Abdol Reza Palace, named after Abdul Reza Pahlavi, the son of Reza Shah.

- The Training Center: Prince Bahman Palace, named after the son of Gholam Reza Pahlavi.

- The Military Museum: Prince Shahram Palace, named after the son of Ashraf Pahlavi.

- Museum of Artistic Creatures: Palace of Farideh Ghotbi, mother of Empress Farah Diba.

- The Behzad Museum: 1st Palace of Reza Pahlavi, named after Reza Pahlavi II.

- Museum of Treasure (The Dafine Museum) 2nd Palace of Reza Pahlavi, currently used by the presidency organization.

- Museum of Mir Emad Calligraphy: Palace of Princess Farahnaz and Prince Ali Reza, named after Farahnaz and Ali Reza, children of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

- The Abkar Museum: Princess Leila Palace, named after Leila Pahlavi.

White Palace

White Palace or people's Palace is the largest one of this complex. This palace had been used for ceremonies and official affairs, also was a summer residence for Mohammad Reza Shah (the second king of the Pahlavi dynasty) and Queen Farah. It is made by the order of Reza Shah the first and most famous king of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1932 and completed in 1937. But it was actually used three years later. This is made and decorated by many of the best Iranian artists and engineers. This palace is built in a surrounding area of? 164 square meters; It is a two-story building and a basement with a total area of? 5,000 square meters. This building has 54 units, including ten large ceremonial halls which were the official reception hall of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The biggest room of this building measures 220 square meters and served as a dining room.

Fine Art Museum

Fine Art Museum is a splendid building in the Sadabad complex which was used as the royal court during 1968 - 1979. It was opened as the “Fine Art Museum” in 1983 which has attracted many art lovers. This building is laid in the southern part of Saad Abad and is a three-story building with 3600 square meters. There are numerous beautiful paintings with western and eastern styles on display for our dear visitors. This gallery consists of works by recent famous Iranian painters such as Sohrab Sepehri, Hossein Mahjobi, Faramarz Pilaram, Hossein Zende Roodi, and miniature paintings by Master Hossein Behzad and Kelara Abkar also there are paintings by Iranian artists from the Safavid era(1501-1722) to Qajar era (1794-1925). In the other parts of this palace, there are western-style paintings from the 17 to 20th century. Some of the painters are Salvador Dali, Peter Graham, Ivanovic Shishkin, and Joule Berton.

Green Palace Museum

Shahvand or Citizen Palace, now called Green Palace, is one of the most beautiful palaces in Iran. This palace is located in the highest and northwest part of the Sad Abad complex. The Green Palace is renovated and also redecorated (1923-1929) by the order of Reza Shah and under the control of "Mirza Jafar Memar Bashi" the most famous Persian architecture. The exterior view is covered with rare pearly green stones from the province of Zanjan and was therefore called Green Palace. This palace is a two-story building on an area of? 1203 square meters. The most interesting part of this palace is the Hall of Mirrors with a seventy-square meter custom rug, woven in the famous Amoughli carpet-making workshop in Mashhad.

Master MirEmad Calligraphy Museum

This museum is laid in one of the historical buildings of Sadabad. Originally this building was the residence of Pahlavi`s children (Farahnaz and Ali Reza). It is a two-story building and its architecture belongs to the late Qajar (1794-1925) and the early Pahlavi era (1925-1979). Since 1997, it was used as the Calligraphy Museum of Master MirEmad, the most famous Calligrapher of the Safavid dynasty (1501-1722). In this two-story museum, there are Collections of selected works of famous calligraphers of Iran's Islamic periods (from the 10th to 20th century AD) such as MirEmad, Mustasimi, Ahmad Neyrizi, Kalhor and etc.

Royal Costume Museum

This is the Shams Pahlavi's building (Reza Shah`s daughter). It is a mixture of Iranian and European architecture and was built by the order of Reza Shah during 1936-1940. Shams Pahlavi used this building as her summer residence, and then in 1964, she sold it to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. During 1964-1979 this palace was used as a private museum of the Pahlavi dynasty and then kept numerous antiques and royal gifts. After the revolution from 1995 till 2004 this place was used as the Anthropology Museum. Later in February 2010, it was converted to the museum of “Contemporary History and Royal Gifts of Pahlavi Dynasty”. Royal clothes of the Pahlavi family (the queen, Mohammad Reza Shah, Reza Shah, and his family) are on exhibit in this museum.

Master Behzad Museum

This is a Qajar era (1794-1925) building and was rebuilt during the first Pahlavi dynasty, it was the residence and office of Reza Shah. Later, it was used as a summer residence of Reza Pahlavi (the former Prince of Iran) in his childhood, this building was called "the palace of the prince". After the Iranian Islamic Revolution, in 1994, with the donation of his son some works of Master Hossain Behzad to the Cultural Heritage Organization, on the occasion of the centenary of this great artist, this building was inaugurated as a Museum Master Behzad. This museum features precious paintings by Master Behzad, one of the founders of contemporary painting. His ideas, opinions, and works have led to fundamental changes in contemporary Iranian art.