Iran during the Shah's reign

• Iran during the Shah's reign of

The last 40 years of the monarchy that befell the Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, became too westernized for the masses and the Muslim Shiite clergy, which led to the revolution of 1979 (1357 of the Iranian calendar) year.

Radical changes this time Iran closer to that level of cultural freedom, which there never was, and who probably will not soon. We do not like to believe, is not whether these unique photos of Iran before the Islamic revolution.

Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, his wife and the little Princess Shahnaz, Tehran, Iran, 1942.

As Ataturk in Turkey, Reza Shah undertook a series of reforms aimed at transforming Iran into a modern Europeanized state.

These reforms included the structuring of Iran around the central Persian identity, often brutal suppression of religious discontent, as well as the empowerment of women.

In particular, women were encouraged to go to school and get an education.

It was abolished private women's clothing, which, of course, caused discontent of the Shiite clergy.

The royal family by example to ask directions to vesterizatsiyu. In the photo Empress Soraya.

Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida and her husband posing with Iranian athletes, Persia, May 20, 1963.

Winston Churchill to the Shah and the Queen in her official London residence.

A few color photos of Tehran at the time

pool in the guest house of the National Iranian Oil Company.

Tehran, July 1971.