It was one of the earliest examples of public monumental art not dedicated to religious or poetic figures but to a living king. When the statue was removed in the years following the 1979 Revolution, it was a deliberate act of erasing symbols of monarchy and Westernization. Statues of kings and political leaders were taken down across the country as part of a broader cultural reset. The bronze figure of Naser al-Din Shah, which had once towered over Tehran’s busiest square, disappeared without much public trace. Some rumors suggest that parts of it were stored or even melted down, but no confirmed evidence of its current whereabouts exists.
