Pars Theater Becomes National Monument

The idea of upholding foreign plays began in the year 1799 when Iranians first started visiting Europe. Upon his return to Iran after visiting the west in the years 1873 and 1889, Naser ad-Din Shah ordered a theater to be built with the Italian style in the Dar al-Funun school and connected it to his palace through a doorway.

The theater was shut down permanently in 1892 and the first private theater groups appeared 16 years later.

Seyyed Ali Nasr established the Iran Comedy Company in 1917. The policy of Seyyed Ali Nasr was to encourage students to make theaters and halls for dramatic arts. Establishments such as Pars, Iran, Madame Yuri, Dehqan, the Art Gallery, and many others were all the result of Seyyed Ali Nasr’s policy and were all built between 1923 and 1943.

According to manuscripts left behind by Fazlollah Khan Bayegan who was one of the co-founders of Iranian theater and a colleague of Seyed Ali Nasr, Colonel Alinaqi Vaziri founded his academy of music on the ground level of the building of Pars Theater and opened a music club on the first floor, which is the current Pars Theater.

The Pars Theater building has three floors. The ground floor is currently being used for commercial uses and the other two floors are dedicated to dramatic arts. The ground floor is connected to the first floor by a spiral stairway with complete wooden decorations and walls.

The 78-year-old building is still used as a theater.