[3][4] [5] Deputy Head of National Library, Esmat Momeni, in an interview with the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), denied news report on annihilation of old archival publications and stated: No annihilation of old archival publications has taken place in the National Library and will not.

Moreover, there were no demand for those publications and they were all highly damaged, torn, infected and moldy which caused physical harm to library staff who work in repositories and store rooms.

[citation needed] The emergence of the National Library and Archives of Iran was a gradual process preceded by a long work on book collection.

[citation needed] In 1864, Iran's first modern library was established at the Dar ul-Funun, an educational institution that trained military personnel and engineers.

Under Mozaffar ad-Din Shah, Iranians started to explore Western culture thanks to the diplomatic and economic ties established with the West.

In 1897, a scientific society, which actively supported and disseminated Western educational values, was founded in the Iranian capital, Tehran.

Ali Asghar Hekmat noticed that despite several buildings occupying the old military base in central Tehran, there was still unused land.

While supervising the construction of the Ancient Iran Museum, he conceived the idea of establishing a national library on this vacant area.

Additionally, a Chronogram poem by Habib Yaghmai, a poet and literary scholar, adorned the building, while Iranian brick patterns decorated the entrance.

[2][1] Yousef Shariatzadeh (Persian: یوسف شریعت‌زاده), Mohsen Mirheydar, and Yadollah Razaghi of Pirraz Consulting Planners, Architects and Engineers designed the building.

[2] It was dedicated on March 1, 2004, by Seyed Mohammad Khatami, then president of the National and Collective Documents and Library, in a ceremony attended by foreign writers, publishers, and ambassadors.

The collection of ancient and rare books contains works by Iranian authors on philosophy, Sufism, Islam, medicine, and astronomy in Persian and Arabic.

[7] The National Library also includes twelve provincial branches: Boushehr, Ghazvin, Hamadan, Kerman, Isfahan, Mashhad, Rasht, Sari, Shiraz, Tabriz, Yazd, and Zahedan.

The majority of the collection consists of books and manuscripts covering the writings of Iranian scholars in the fields of literature, history, philosophy, mysticism, jurisprudence, medicine, and astronomy.