As the Tehran Contemporary Art Museum prepares to open its first exhibit of modern art in years on November 20—and plans for international shows—Bloomberg reporter Peter Waldman is the rare Western journalist to go inside the Museum’s locked basement vault to view its hidden collection of the finest modern art outside Europe and the U.S.

Valued at over $3 billion, Waldman got to explore the racks upon racks of works by August Renoir, Jackson Pollock, Francis Bacon, Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Edvard Munch, Mark Rothko and more, which were purchased by the Shah’s wife, Empress Farah Pahlavi, just before Iran’s 1979 revolution, but most of which have never been seen by the public due to the Iranian rulers’ disdain of “depraved,” un-Islamic Western art.

As Iran lurches toward reengaging with the world after sanctions, Waldman—a former Wall Street Journal Middle East correspondent in the 1990’s—explores the collection’s tumultuous and political past, how it has remained remarkably intact, and how this hidden crown jewel that has been waiting in history’s shadow can act as a bridge to distrustful, Western nations.

Waldman also interviews the gate keepers of the collection, principally Firouz Shabazi Moghaddam: "Only God knows where I got this courage from—I who am normally so afraid," he said. "With this vault, with this museum, I am like a lion."