Talinn Grigor. Building Iran: Modernism, Architecture, and National Heritage under the Pahlavi Monarchs

Grigor studies “the political underpinnings, pedagogical aims, racial schemas, and aesthetic ends of propaganda architecture” (p. 9) of the Society for National Heritage (1922-1979). The SNH decided which structures were worth preserving, built mausoleums to lionize and nationalize great men (such as Ferdowsī or Hāfeẓ), and ran museums and educational projects. Grigor argues that heritage was a key idea since “political struggles aimed at radical secular reforms, territorial integrity, and na..