Tehran Mayor Shuts Down Cultural Institutions in Crackdown

After 11 years of collecting forgotten stories and preserving vanishing traditions, Ali Golshan posted a video to Instagram.

Behind him sat rows of dolls representing cultures from across Iran and beyond. The International Dolls Museum was celebrating an anniversary but also announcing its closure.

The museum had just been shortlisted for an international award. Tehran’s District 12 Municipality wanted its building back.

“We hope to resume activities in another location,” Golshan told followers in the video. But for now, the dolls - and the dreams of cultural preservation they represented - sit in storage.

The museum’s closure marks the third cultural institution shuttered this year as Tehran Municipality reclaims properties from civil society organizations operating in the capital.

The House of Humanities Thinkers and the Office of Tehran Province Journalists’ Union met similar fates in recent months, part of what critics describe as a systematic dismantling of independent cultural spaces under Mayor Alireza Zakani’s order.

The closures have sent ripples of concern through Tehran’s cultural community, raising questions about the future of artistic expression, intellectual dialogue, and civil society in a city once known for its independent cultural scene.

The pressure began after the 2021 elections, when hardliners aligned with the Front of Islamic Revolution Stability swept Tehran City Council seats in voting held concurrently with Iran’s presidential election.

Zakani, a conservative former parliamentarian, took charge of the capital shortly after.

The official justification centers on an 11-article resolution passed by the fifth-term city council to address the “astronomical properties” scandal - at least 110 municipal buildings that had been allocated to specific individuals and organizations during Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf’s tenure as mayor, some free of charge or at 50 percent discounts.

The resolution, finalized in summer 2021, aimed to bring transparency and proper contracts to municipal property allocations.

But its implementation under the new administration has followed a selective pattern, activists say.

“People like Zakani and individuals from the Front of Islamic Revolution Stability faction consider themselves to have a mission that goes beyond their ordinary duties,” said Babak Dorbeygi, a political activist who served as director general of public relations at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance during Hassan Rouhani’s presidency.

“Especially in the cultural and political sphere, they remove anything that doesn’t align with or opposes their views.”

The timing of the Dolls Museum closure carried particular irony. The institution had recently earned a spot among 25 inspiring global projects shortlisted for the International Council of Museums award in sustainable development - the only Iranian entry selected this year.

The nominated project, “Women’s Role in Iranian Mythology: Connecting Historical Narratives and Contemporary Movements,” had recovered and nationally registered at least 100 forgotten stories and dolls that were disappearing from various regions across Iran.

The work represented years of documentation, traveling to remote areas and building trust with local communities to preserve rapidly vanishing cultural heritage.

ICOM’s International Committee for Communications, Marketing and Audience Engagement had recognized the project’s significance. Tehran’s municipal authorities saw a property to reclaim.

The museum had faced financial challenges before. In 2016, it struggled to pay rent. But supporters rallied, and the museum survived - until now.

The closures affect more than just physical spaces, according to those working in Tehran’s civil society sector.

“Our NGO cares for girls who are neglected or without guardians,” said Monir, a social activist who asked to be identified only by her first name. She serves on the board of an organization focused on social harms.

“As soon as the new municipality team came to power, various pressures began to terminate the contract for the property the municipality had provided us. Basically, they have no interest in modern-style non-governmental organizations’ activities.”

Monir outlined five categories of damage from the municipal crackdown. First comes the weakening of spaces where dialogue and interaction of political thoughts remain possible. The House of Humanities Thinkers is such a venue.

“The closure of such a place reduces or weakens part of the city’s social and intellectual capital,” she said.

Second, the closures devastate what she called Tehran’s “cultural micro-economy” - the interconnected network of small-scale cultural enterprises, artists, educators and support staff who depended on these institutions for employment.

“What Tehran Municipality is doing is destroying a micro but dynamic economic cycle that was flowing in Tehran and is now being removed,” Monir said.

The impact extends to vulnerable populations. Monir pointed to the closure of Khaneh Khorshid, or House of the Sun, Tehran’s only harm reduction center specifically for women struggling with addiction.

“After that center was closed, not even one similar example has been able to operate,” she said. “The issue is not just property and the possibility of presence there. The issue is how to build trust among the most vulnerable parts of society, which is easily being destroyed in the form of administrative and political decisions.”

Tehran Municipality defends its actions as proper stewardship of public resources. In statements responding to criticism, officials emphasize their commitment to “restoring cultural function” to municipal properties.

Zahra Shams Ehsan, head of Tehran City Council’s Social Committee, has criticized many centers operating in municipality properties, claiming their performance has shifted toward “only quantitative or commercial aspects” rather than their stated missions of culture, society and empowerment.

She advocates for structural transformation in the municipality’s cultural and artistic organization, strengthening neighborhood-level programming and reviewing all center allocations.

Current council members stress three principles: municipal properties require transparent contracts with non-governmental organizations, cultural spaces should not be used for political or economic activities, and properties should serve urban management projects.

Council member Ahmad Sadeghi called for implementing the property resolution in 2023, though he and colleagues have repeatedly questioned why enforcement has been so slow for most properties while swift for select cultural institutions.

Dorbeygi sees continuity in Zakani’s approach stretching back to his parliamentary days.

“When I was in the public relations of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, I closely saw how people like Zakani or Pejmanfar, who held positions in the parliament’s cultural commission, would find fault with the smallest activities of the ministry’s artistic or cinema deputy and pressure for their change,” he said.

He describes Zakani and aligned officials as viewing themselves as “heirs to the Islamic Republic system and all its structures,” with a self-appointed mission to remove opposing viewpoints, particularly in culture and politics.

“Therefore, what we’re now witnessing in pressure on the independent cultural sector is in this direction,” Dorbeygi said.

Other cultural institutions watch nervously. The Artists’ House operates from a municipality-owned building. The House of Music has faced financial pressure and ownership disputes, though it remains open for now.

No one knows which organization might receive the next eviction notice.