San’ati Museum of Contemporary Arts

The San’ati Museum of Contemporary Arts of Kerman is located in the Shariati street of this city. Some consider this museum to be the second richest museum of contemporary arts after the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts. The antiquity of building this complex dates back to eighty years ago. A man namely Haj Ali Akbar San’ati established an orphanage in his birthplace, Kerman, with 45000 square meter area, for derelict children in 1295 AH. Since some of these children lost their parents before having a birth certificate and they need a last name to start primary school education, Ali Akbar San’ati gave all of them his last name, San’ati.

One of these children is the famous Ali Akbar San’ati, one of the highlighted painters and sculptors of Iran. he was highly interested in painting from his early childhood and Haj Ali Akbar paved the way for his improvement; after learning from Kerman masters he was sent to the School of Sanaye Mostazrefe in Tehran and specialized in painting and sculpture under masters like Kamal al-Molk, Behzad, Abulhasan Sedighi and etc. The artistic activities of the orphanage were started from 1328 SH through establishing some workshops and holding the exhibition of works made by Ali Akbar San’ati. The San’ati orphanage was converted into a museum for keeping and exhibiting works of Sana’ti and other Iran and the world’s artists in 1356 SH. There is also a specific art library from 1341 SH that is unique and highly considerable in its kind. The tomb of Haj Ali akbar Sana’ti is also close to the library.

The architecture of the building is inspired by the traditional-Iranian style and has a dome. The façade of the building is one of the most highlighted part of the architecture that was designed and made in 1327 SH as a combination of turquoise and black mosaic faience and brick. The materials kept in this museum are more than 1200 items interesting among which are the works of Auguste Rodin, Henry More, Ben Nicholson, Albert Marquet, Emil Nolde, Bella Kadar, Wassily Kandinsky, Jacobe and etc. as well as the Iranian artists like Kamal al-Molk, Ali Akbar Yasemi, Zhazeh Tabatabaei, Parviz Tanavoli, Sohrab Sepehri, Ali Akbar Sana’ti.