Dār ul-Funun ( , meaning "polytechnic college"), established by the Royal Vizier to Nasereddin Shah in 1851, is the oldest Western-style institute of higher learning in Iran. Introduction Founded by Amir Kabir, then the royal vizier to Nasereddin Shah, the Shah of Persia, Dār al-Funun originally was conceived as a polytechnic to train upper-class Persian youth in medicine, engineering, military science, and geology. It was similar in scope and purpose to American land grant colleges like Purdue and Texas A&M. Like them, it developed and expanded its mission over the next hundred years, eventually becoming the University of Tehran. The institute was planned by the Iranian educated Mirzā Rezā Mohandes (fa), and built by the architect Mohammad-Taqi Khān Memār-Bāshi (fa) under the supervision of the Qajar prince Bahrām Mirzā. Facilities such as an assembly hall, a theater, library, cafeteria, and a publishing house were built for the institute. In 1930, the building was destroyed by Mirzā Yahyā Khan Qarāgozlu (also known as Etemād od-Dowleh), then Minister of Education, and rebuilt based on a Russian engineering design. Many parts of the institute were later on absorbed and merged into the newly establishing Tehran University. The Faculty of Medicine for example, was particularly the successor to the Dār ul-Funun Department of Medicine, established in 1851, which had become the School of Medicine (Madreseh-ye Tebb) in 1919. The elite school was training 287 students by 1889, and had graduated 1100 students by 1891. During this time, the faculty consisted of 16 European, and 26 Iranian professors. List of presidents Mirzā Mohammad-Ali Khān Shirāzi (fa) (1851–52) Aziz Khān Mokri (1852) Mirzā Mohammad Khān Amir-Tumān (1852–57) Ali-Qoli Mirzā Etezād os-Saltaneh (1857–80) Ali-Qoli Khān Hedayāt Mokhber od-Dowleh (fa) (1880–96) Jafar-Qoli Khān Hedāyat Nayyer ol-Molk (fa) Mohammad-Hossein Khān Adib od-Dowleh Rezā-Qoli Khān Hedāyat Nayyer ol-Molk (fa) (1896–1906) Notable teachers Dr. Jakob Eduard Polak (1818–1891) – medicine and pharmacy Lieutenant August Karl Krziž (hr) (1814–1886) – artillery Captain Joseph Czarnotta – mineralogy Captain Zatti – engineering Alfred Baron de Gumoëns – infantry Johann von Nemiro – cavalry Michele Materazzo Francesco Materazzo Luigi Pesce Enrico Andreini – infantry Focchetti – pharmacy, physics and chemistry Jules Richard (fa) (1852–1891) – French language Ernest Cloquet Alfred Jean Baptiste Lemaire (1842–1907) – music Fedor Karaczay Alexandre Bohler – mathematics Borowski – geography Hawkin Félix Vauvillier Johan Louis Schlimmer (fa) (1819–1881) Joseph Désiré Tholozan (1820–1897) Albert Joseph Gasteiger (1823–1890) Ernst Höltzer (1835–1911) Martiros