Iran sculptor dies at age of 98

The veteran creator of Tehran’s famous Statue of Mountaineer, Reza Lal Riahi has passed away at the age of 98 in Brussels, Belgium.

Born in 1918 in the city of Mashhad, Reza Lal Riahi was an accomplished painter, sculptor and visual arts artist who used to be a former colonel in the Iranian Army.

The Statue of Mountaineer is a statue that has been installed in Tehran’s Darband neighborhood since 1962.

Riahi studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Tehran and taught there from 1953 to 1960.

Leaving Iran for Belgium, he published a book on his paintings titled ‘ The painting Collection of Reza Laal Riahi’ in 1961.

Mojtaba Mousavi, an official of Tehran’s Municipality, expressed his grief at the loss, vowing to protect the only heritage left of him in Tehran, the Statue of Mountaineer.

FM/FGF