One of the most political and dreadful museums in Tehran is the Ebrat Museum (Persian: موزه عبرت) in the National Garden of Tehran. The contemporary history of Iran has been full of ups and downs, but the events that took place in prisons have marked the darkest page in Iranian history.
Ebrat museum was constructed by German engineers under the order of Reza Pahlavi (Pahlavi I) in 1932 as the first modern prison in Iran. It was later used as a temporary prison and a women's prison. However, the most considerable use of this prison was during the Mohammad Reza Pahlavi era (Pahlavi II), by being of the Islamic revolutionary movements of the opposition groups in around the 60s and 70s.
Significant features of this prison include the complex plan, the symmetry of the rooms and the echoes of sound in them, and the obnoxious architecture of the prison, designed to increase the fear and torture of prisoners.
This prison was the detention center of prominent figures such as Seyyed Mahmoud Taleghani, Ali Shariati, Mohammad Javad Bahonar, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. It was a place that security forces and SAVAK tortured political activists against the Pahlavi regime.
After the Islamic revolution of Iran, this place was named Towhid Prison. Finally, it has been turned into a museum by Cultural Heritage Organization since 2002. A prison museum that recalls a slice of the tragic and painful history of its prisoners for visitors by featuring the sculptures of torturers, prisoners, and different methods and devices of tortures.
To visit this museum, you have to go to Imam Khomeini Square, Yarjani Street in Tehran. A circular building on three floors is waiting for you, with countless cells and winding corridors, all of which lead to the main area.
Various other sections such as public and solitary confinement cells, torture places, prisoners' meeting places, and clothing storage rooms are among the most prominent parts of this most dreadful torture place in contemporary Iranian history.
Among the various types of tourism, dark tourism refers to visiting historical sites associated with death and tragedy and arouse a tourist's sense of fear, excitement, or curiosity. Visiting this mysterious museum as an example of dark tourism can show a slice of the traumatic events of contemporary history for tourists who want to experience a different type of tourism.
