Edited by Jane Rosemarin
The Azadi Tower marks the western entrance to Teheran. It is part of the Azadi Cultural Complex, which also includes an underground museum. Photo credit: Blondinrikard Fröberg. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

The Azadi Tower, designed by Hossein Amanat and completed in 1971, is one of the most iconic landmarks of Iran’s capital, Tehran. This tower is a silent witness to the major historical events in Iran’s recent history.

As an avid origami folder, I always find myself folding paper without having a specific goal or following any instructions. Back in 2017, while I was randomly folding a chocolate wrapper, I suddenly saw a resemblance to the structure of the Azadi Tower and decided to complete the design.

It took a while for me to get the design just right. Recently, I enhanced the model and made it two sided to resemble to the 3D tower more closely.

To me, and probably many other Iranians, Azadi Tower is one the most predominant symbols of Tehran and Iran, and I am very happy that I managed to design it in origami.

The origami Freedom Tower. See PDF diagrams.