[custom_adv] Dar ul-Funun, established in 1851, was the first modern university and modern institution of higher learning in homeland . [custom_adv] Founded by Amir Kabir, then the royal vizier to Nasereddin Shah, the Shah of Persia, Dar al-Funun originally was conceived as a polytechnic to train upper-class Persian youth in medicine, engineering, military science, and geology. [custom_adv] 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 capital. [custom_adv] The institute was planned by the Iranian educated Mirza Reza Mohandes, and built by the architect Muhammad Taqi Khan Memar-Bashi under the supervision of the Qajari prince Bahram Mirza. [custom_adv] Facilities such as an assembly hall, a theater, library, cafeteria, and a publishing house were built for the institute. [custom_adv] In 1930, the building was destroyed by Mirza Yahya Khan Qaragozlu (also known as Etemad-od-Dowleh), then Minister of Education, and rebuilt based on a Russian engineering design. [custom_adv] Many parts of the institute were later on absorbed and merged into the newly establishing capital University. [custom_adv] The Faculty of Medicine for example, was particularly the successor to the Dar ul-Funun Department of Medicine, established in 1851, which had become the School of Medicine (Madreseh-ye tebb) in 1919. [custom_adv] 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 persian professors. [custom_adv] Dar ul-Funun, established in 1851, was the first modern university and modern institution of higher learning in homeland . [custom_adv] Founded by Amir Kabir, then the royal vizier to Nasereddin Shah, the Shah of Persia, Dar al-Funun originally was conceived as a polytechnic to train upper-class Persian youth in medicine, engineering, military science, and geology. [custom_adv] 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 capital. [custom_adv] The institute was planned by the Iranian educated Mirza Reza Mohandes, and built by the architect Muhammad Taqi Khan Memar-Bashi under the supervision of the Qajari prince Bahram Mirza. [custom_adv] Facilities such as an assembly hall, a theater, library, cafeteria, and a publishing house were built for the institute. [custom_adv] In 1930, the building was destroyed by Mirza Yahya Khan Qaragozlu (also known as Etemad-od-Dowleh), then Minister of Education, and rebuilt based on a Russian engineering design.