House Museum of Jalal & Simin, two renowned Iranian novelists, was inaugurated in Tehran.
The brick house in the northern neighborhood of Dezashib once housed the literary couple: novelist, short story writer and translator Jalal Al-e Ahmad (1923-69) and novelist, fiction writer and translator Simin Daneshvar (1921-2012).
The museum opened on April 28, coinciding with the birth anniversary of Daneshvar. The two-story house, covering an area of 250 square meters, underwent a lengthy restorative operation and is now open to the public, IRNA reported.
It is located at No. 1, Arz Dead-End on Ramezani Street. Al-e Ahmad and Daneshvar named their alley after Lesan-Arz, a graveyard in Isfahan where Daneshvar’s parents are buried.
The couple moved to Dezashib at the suggestion of eminent contemporary Persian poet Nima Yushij (1895-1960) who was living there for a while and whose house is now another cultural attraction in the neighborhood.
The couple bought a piece of land there and built their house. Al-e Ahmad drew the construction plan and even helped build it himself. In the letters he wrote to Daneshvar, he has spoken of the injuries he suffered when hewing rocks. “We’ve tried to introduce minimal changes in structure, furniture and layout when restoring the house,” said Jafar Rahmanzadeh, managing director of Tehran Municipality’s Cultural Space Development Company.
“We collected some of their stuff and returned them to the house, trying to recapture the spirit of the place,” he added.
