"For 45 years, Iran's most famous modern monument, the Azadi (Freedom) Tower in Tehran, has been the backdrop to every major news story coming out of the country...Hossein Amanat was a rising star in Iran's architectural scene when, in 1966, he won a national competition to design the monument...Its historical pull, he believes, lies in the tower's evolution as a 'symbol of Iran'...that is both intensely Iranian and Islamic at the same time." — BBC
Little known to most Iranians, the iconic monument was designed by a member of the Baha'i Faith, a religious minority the Islamic State considers heretical, and whose adherents are routinely harassed and imprisoned.
