Ali-Asghar Hekmat

Ali-Asghar Hekmat-e Shirazi (Persian: علی‌اصغر حکمت شیرازی; 16 June 1892 – 25 August 1980), or Mirza Ali-Asghar Khan-e Hekmat-e Shirazi (میرزا علی‌اصغر خان حکمت شیرازی), was an Iranian politician, diplomat and author who served as the Iranian minister of foreign affairs, minister of justice, and minister of culture during the reigns of Reza Shah and Mohammad Reza Shah. Hekmat was an Iranian ambassador to India and wrote multiple books about Indian history and culture. Following the 1979 Iranian revolution, his books and works were ignored and he was labelled as a Freemason, but one of his books, Persian Inscriptions on Indian Monuments, was reprinted and introduced to Iranians.

The majority of Iran's contemporary landmarks, such as the University of Tehran campus, Museum of Ancient Iran (later known as the Iran National Museum), and the revered tombs of Ferdowsi, Hafez, and Saadi, were constructed under his leadership.