Piero Sanpaolesi e il Museo Nazionale dell’Iran antico. Un atteggiamento critico per un’architettura del Novecento

The contribution examines Piero Sanpaolesi’s work on the National Museum of Ancient Iran in Tehran, designed by André Godard and inaugurated in 1936. Drawing on documents held in Sanpaolesi’s private archive, the study reconstructs his analytical and design activity on a building that, although only a few decades old at the time of the intervention, was already recognised as a significant expression of Iranian modern architecture. Sanpaolesi proposed a programme combining conservation, maintenance, functional adaptation, and museum upgrading while preserving the original architectural layout and material character of Godard’s building. His proposals included the investigation of load-bearing structures, the use of compatible mortars, the maintenance of brick façades and roofs, the light covering of the internal courtyards, the preservation of natural lighting, and the design of new exhibition spaces and display cases. Rather than treating modern architecture as a separate category, Sanpaolesi applied the same rigorous method used for historic monuments, based on direct observation, knowledge of materials, limited intervention, and respect for material authenticity. The Iranian experience therefore reveals the international dimension of his work and anticipates later debates on the conservation of twentieth-century architectural heritage.