Dar ul-Funun

Eastern gate of Dar ol-Fonun (دار الفنون) in the Naser Khosrow street. On the upper part of the front face is the following couplet from Ferdowsi's Shahnameh inscribed: "Capable is the one who is enlightened – Knowledge rejuvenates the heart of the old"^[1]

Dar al-Funun (Persian: دار الفنون), established in 1851, was the first modern institution of higher learning in Persia.

Introduction

Founded by Amir Kabir, then the royal vizier to Nasereddin Shah, the Shah of Iran, Dar al-Funun originally was conceived as a polytechnic to train upper-class Persian youth in Medicine, Engineering, Military Science, and Geology. It was similar in scope and purpose to American land grant colleges like Purdue and Texas A&M. Like them, it developed and expanded its mission over the next hundred years, eventually becoming the University of Tehran.^[2]

The institute was planned by the British educated Mirza Reza Mohandes, and built by the architect Muhammad Taqi-khan Memar-Bashi under the supervision of the Qajari prince Bahram Mirza. Facilities such as an assembly hall, a theater, library, cafeteria, and a publishing house were built for the institute.

Many parts of the institute were later on absorbed and merged into the newly establishing Tehran University. The Faculty of Medicine for example, was particularly the successor to the Dar ul-Funun Department of Medicine, established in 1851, which had become the School of Medicine (Madreseh-ye tebb) in 1919.^[3]

The elite school was training 287 students by 1889, and had graduated 1100 students by 1891. During this time, the faculty consisted of 16 Iranian, and 26 European professors.

Dar ol-Fonoon's notable alumni

• Āghā Mohammad Khān Qājār Qvānlou,^[4] aka Mohammad Mirzā Kāshef-os-Saltaneh and Chaikār, the first Mayor of Tehran, Iran's Ambassador to India under the British rule, and the person who secretly imported tea plants to Iran and cultivated tea in Iran on large scale (see Lahijan)
• Ahmadreza Ahmadi, poet and screen writer.
• Ali Amini, former Prime Minister.
• Ali-Akbar Dāvar, former Minister of Justice and holder of other Cabinet posts.
• Ali-Akbar Deh'khodā, author, linguist, social reformer, Member of Iran's Parliament, Majles
• Bahram Bayzai, writer, scholar, film director, theatre director, screenwriter, playwright and film producer.
• Dariush Ashoori, author, translator, researcher.
• Ebrahim Hakimi, former Deputy, Cabinet Minister and Prime Minister.
• Ehsan Naraghi, sociologist and writer.
• Faramarz Payvar, composer and Santour player.
• Fereydoon Moshiri, poet.
• Gholam-Hossein Darvish, aka Darvish Khan, musician.
• Hossein Gol-e-Golab, scholar and musician.
• Jalal Al-e Ahmad, author and social critic.
• Kamal ol-Molk, painter
• Manouchehr Eqbal, former Prime Minister.
• Mírzá Abu'l-Faḍl-i-Gulpáygání, scholar.
• Mohamad Ali Ebn Mohamad Bagher, AKA Mohamad Ali Mobasher Divan, Pen name: Ghobar Kashani, Iranian poet, Doctor, Homeopathic scholar,
• Mirza Jahangir Khan (aka Mirza Jahangir Khan Shirazi and Mirza Jahangir Khan Sur-e Esrafil), founder and Editor of the Sur-e Esrafil newspaper.
• Mohammad-Ali Foroughi Zoka-ol-Molk, former Prime Minister and Ambassador.
• Mohammad Moin, scholar of Persian literature and Iranology.
• Mohammad-Ali Sepanlou, writer.
• Mohsen Hashtroodi, mathematician.
• Seyed Mohammad Hossein Adeli, former Governor of Central Bank of Iran and Ambassador.
• Sadeq Hedayat, writer.
• Mohammad vali Gharani, General.

References and notes

1. ^ توانا بود هر که دانا بود - ز دانش دل پیر برنا بود - Ta'vānā Bo'vad Har'ke Dānā Bo'vad - Ze Dānesh De'le Pír Bor'nā Bo'vad. In verse form the couplet may be translated as: Capable is he who is wise - Happiness from wisdom will arise.
2. ^ For an illustrated report on Dar ol-Fonoun see: Hamid-Reza Hosseini, Dar ol-Fonoun in want of love ("Dar ol-Fonoun dar hasrat-e eshgh"), in Persian, Jadid Online, September 22, 2008, [1]. The pertinent photographs (15 in total) can be viewed here: [2].
3. ^ Encyclopædia Iranica: http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v9f2/v9f224.html#v
4. ^ See Mohammad Mirzā Kāshef-os-Saltaneh in Persian Wikipedia.

See also

• Higher education in Iran
• Alborz highschool
• Academy of Gundishapur
• Nizamiyyah
• List of universities in Iran
• List of Iranian scientists from the pre-modern era.
• Modern Iranian scientists and engineers
• List of Iranian Research Centers
• School of Nisibis
• Sarouyeh

External links

• Dar al-Funun in jazirehdanesh
• Encyclopedia Iranica: Darolfonun, p.662-668

Coordinates: 35°41′1.64″N 51°25′18.71″E / 35.6837889°N 51.4218639°E / 35.6837889; 51.4218639