Nasir al-Din Shah’s strange comparison of the cleanliness of foreign and Iranian children during his travels / They should have mummified your brain—what a pity!”

According to the Society Section of Saed News, quoting FaraDID, Naser al-Din Shah was seriously committed to writing his daily memoirs and did not abandon this practice even during his long journeys. He himself called his notes a “diary”; these diaries provide very interesting and readable details about the daily affairs and conditions of the Shah and his courtiers.

Naser al-Din Shah’s second trip to Europe began in Farvardin 1257 in the Iranian calendar (March–April 1878). On this trip, he first went to Russia and then traveled to Hungary, Germany, France, and Austria.

Here is his account of his trip to Paris and his observations in the city:

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We went to Paris… wandered a bit in the streets; the weather was hot and unpleasant… went to the hotel; at night after dinner, we took a carriage ride along the Champs-Élysées.

The next day, after lunch, I went to the Badaboulen Zoo… we walked on foot, I perspired and had a hard time. The animals included colorful and varied chickens, monkeys, different dogs, elephants, giraffes, deer, ostriches, and many other kinds of animals…

After that, I went to the School for the Blind. It is a very good school, with 130 young blind students, both male and female, studying there. Most of their skills are in music and instrument-making… They have invented a kind of alphabet, printed it, and the paper is embossed so that the blind can feel it with their hands and read any book very well.

The children of Paris, from infants to ten- or twelve-year-olds, are kept by their mothers and nannies extremely clean, tidy, and well-mannered, which is astonishing. They take great care in this matter, and as soon as the child reaches the stage of understanding and learning, they supervise their education in all kinds of knowledge and crafts.

In Monceau Park and other places, when parents stroll… their children, in utmost beauty and charm, play together on the lawns and under the shade, while nannies and caretakers watch over them. Some play with flowers or water, but with a level of cleanliness that is astonishing. Some have large wooden hoops which they roll and run after.