13 Apr Fiberglass statues replace bronze busts stolen in Tehran
The Tehran Municipality has replaced 6 of the 11 bronze statues stolen in the city with fiberglass replicas over the past week.
Busts of Mohammad-Hossein Sani’khatam, Mohammad Moin, Rahman Dadman, Sattar Khan, Baqer Khan, and an abstract sculpture have been installed in the places of the originals, the Tehran Municipality Beautification Organization director Javad Shushtari told the Persian service of ISNA on Saturday.
All the fiberglass statues, except the abstract statue that had been made by the deceased Iranian sculptor Mohammad-Ali Madadi, have been recreated in their original dimensions by the bronze statue artists who had made the originals, he explained.
He said that the municipality would pursue its complaint about the issue of the thefts with the judicial authorities.
“If the original statues are recovered, they will replace the replicas,” Shushtari noted.
Bronze busts of Iranian luminaries and several other sculptures situated in local neighborhoods and parks in Tehran have vanished over the past four months.
The statues were presumably stolen for the scrap value of the metal used in making them, Tehran Municipality Statue Office director Mojtaba Musavi had said earlier.
However, some analysts believe that there are political and ideological reasons behind the disappearance of the statues.
Janet Noparast
Posted at 00:27h, 26 OctoberThat’s a shame for a country not to be able to protect the essence of a great artist sculpture , like Madadi . He spent all his assets and all his hard life in creating the most artistic sculptures.
Unfortunately he passed Yong , he stablished the first bronze studio with extrem hardship.
He made & created a very artistic sculpture of scientist Abu Reyhan Birooni , I hope this one has not been stolen. He didn’t lived long to create a website for himself or get known publicly ,the way he deserved to be known. The responsible organs owe him a soficiently biography of him and appreciation to him, in fact he is holding the greatest rare sculpture tittle, which needs to be recorded . It’s very sad to let one great creative sculpture like Madadi just become forgotten
And his name be faded away. He was the first top, in the entry exam to enter the faculty of art in University of Tehran, I got the second step. Is the duty of all other sculptures that got to know him to write about him and pay their respects, as life didn’t give sufficient enough time & chance to him to become known enough the way he deserved. Unfortunately at the time he passed, there was not much political freedom for stablishing sculptures, and was very hectic to perform any. As instance on the Abu Reyhan Birouni sculpture, there was complain why the muscle of his thigh is showing from under his robe. And he was wondering what a difficulty he had to go through to achieve the permit for that amazing creation.