Gholamhossein Dinani

A seminar titled ’Life and Thoughts of Molana’ was held jointly by Iranian Cultural Center in Spain and Complutense University of Madrid to mark the eighth birth centenary of Molana Jalaleddin Rumi, a well-known Iranian poet and mystic.
Addressing the inaugural ceremony, dean of the university’s Linguistics Faculty, Damaso Lopez Garcia said that courses on Persian language and literature have already been conducted for students and hopefully, a department of Iranian studies will be established at the university, reported MNA.
Speaking at the same gathering, dean of the university’s Islamic and Arabic Studies Department Juan Martos expressed pleasure over holding the seminar and voiced his readiness to promote such programs.
Head of the Irano-Spanish Friendship Association Seyyed Hassan Shafti said that when one speaks of Molana’s works, he/she always harbors an apprehension about sticking to its form while neglecting their profound concepts.
In the academic session of the seminar, five Iranian and Spanish researchers on Molana’s works presented articles about the poet.
Tehran University professor, Ahmad Reza Khezri discussed the cultural and historical conditions prevailing during Molana’s lifetime in his paper titled ’Life, Time and Secret to Molana’s Eternality’.
Gholamreza Avani, head of Iran’s Theosophy and Philosophy Research Institute presented an article titled ’Truth of Humanity in Molana’s Thought’.
The final lecturer of the meeting was Gholamhossein Ebrahimi-Dinani, a noted Tehran University professor, who presented an article themed ’Wisdom in Molana’s Thought’.
Referring to his global thought and personality, he also said that everybody in the world irrespective of race and religion can understand Molana’s words because he has spoken in the wisdom language.
“In his opinion, wisdom is a divine gem bestowed to humanity,“ Ebrahimi-Dinani said, adding that Molana sees no conflict between wisdom and love since they are in harmony in the existence of God-fearing men, heading for the same destination.

Paintings by Mohammad Ehsaei a noted Iranian artist are on display at Armitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Speaking to MNA, Ehsaei said that five Muslim painters have put on display their works in five halls of the museum. “Seven of my latest works are also on display in one of the halls,“ he said.
These works will remain on view for a month, he said.
The exhibition was held earlier held at Oriental Museum in Moscow and, according to organizers, it was warmly welcomed.

Iranian films were screened in two leading French cinematic festivals namely Oberbiel and Cinnamal held this month.
According to press release faxed to Iran Daily by the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, a collection of films by noted Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami such as ’Passenger’, ’Experience’, ’Bread and Alley’, ’Break’, ’Chorus’, ’Clothes for Wedding’, ’Two Solutions for a Problem’ and ’Where Is the Friend’s House’ as well as animations produced by the center went on screen in Oberbiel which was held from November 12-18.
The animations screened in the festivals included ’Golbaran’, Rokh’, both produced by Ali Akbar Sadeqi, ’Sleep’ by Ali Reza Chitaei, ’Flying Grandmother’ by Fatemeh Goudarzi, ’Root in Sky’ by Farkhandeh Torabi.
In recent years, the film ’Basho, Little Stranger’ by another noted Iranian film director Bahram Beizaei won the grand award at the event.
Iranian animator and painter Ali Akbar Sadeqi served on the panel of jury in an earlier round of the festival.
The film ’Flying Grandmother’ by Fatemeh Goudarzi was also screened in Cinnamal Festival held from November 14-18.
In another section of the event, other Iranian films including ’Water and Mirror’ by Bijan Zaman-Pira, ’Negligence’ by Saeed Motarassed, ’Fruit, Olive Tree’ by Misa Molavi, ’Last Village Not Counted’ by Shahram Alidy, ’Silent Fellow Traveler’ by Elham Hosseinzadeh, ’A Bit Higher’ by Mehdi Jafari went on screen.

A sample of Pahlavi Script

Two Sassanid era inscriptions were discovered in the third round of joint explorations undertaken by an Iran-French team in Kohan-Dej, Neyshabour, said head of Khorasan Razavi Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Department.
According to IRNA, Abolfazl Mokarramifar added that these inscriptions are of great significance in determining the cultural status of Neyshabour, Khorasan Razavi province.
He further said that one of the inscriptions features four lines of writing in Pahlavi Sassanid Script, whose contents have not yet been deciphered.
However, according to experts, it is very important to identify the layers pertaining to the Sassanid civilization in Kohan-Dej, he added.
Another object, he said, is a plaque featuring a humped cow and wild goat along with an inscription in Parthian Pahlavi Script.
This year’s archeological excavations focused on the architecture of the area which can shed light on the developments during the Sassanid period, added the official.
Referring to the earlier rounds of excavations, Mokarramifar also said that the studies revealed that Kohan-Dej was fortified by parallel fences like Takht-e Soleiman in West Azarbaijan province.
Based on archeological studies undertaken by Metropolitan Museum during 1937-1948 in Neyshabour, American archeologists maintained that Kohan-Dej dates back to the early Islamic era. Therefore, Neyshabour of the Sassanid era should be studied elsewhere rather than Kohan-Dej.

Following successful performances in Europe and the US, noted Iranian vocalist Mohammad Reza Shajarian will for the first time conduct a concert in Dubai, UAE on December 20-21.
The maestro, who completed a month-long European tour in May, will perform with his band ’Ava’ at The American University in Dubai (AUD), reported IRNA.
This is the first time Shajarian has decided to perform in one of the Persian Gulf littoral states.
Ava ensemble includes Homayoun Shajarian on ’Tonbak’ (Persian goblet drum), Mohammad Firouzi on lute, Majid Derakhshani and Saeid Farajpour on the traditional Iranian string instruments ’Tar’ and ’Kamancheh’, respectively.
The band also gave a presentation in Isfahan last month.

Kenyan ambassador to Tehran has voiced his country’s readiness to boost cultural and commercial cooperation with Iran.
Speaking to IRNA at the end of his two-day visit to Yazd province, Ali Abbas Ali said, “Iran and Kenya signed two memoranda of understanding on expanding ties in the cultural heritage and tourism sectors.“
On his visit to the historical monuments in Yazd province, he said that his trip would consolidate cultural ties between the two countries.
Abbas Ali also appreciated efforts by Iranian authorities to safeguard historical monuments in the country.
Meanwhile, Yazd Governor General Mohammad Reza Fallahzadeh, in a meeting with the ambassador, referred to Kenya’s cultural potentials and welcomed all-out cooperation with that country.
Handicrafts from Yazd were presented to Abbas Ali and his entourage during the visit.
Yazd boasts some 6,500 historical monuments, of which 1,100 sites are on the national heritage list.

Fifth Tehran Sculpture Biennial themed ’Peace, Life and Future Horizon’ will be held in Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts from November 20 to December 31.
According to Fars news agency, the event will be sponsored by Iran’s Association Sculptors, Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry, Institute for Development of Visual Arts, Academy of Art, Tehran Municipality’s cultural artistic and beautification organizations.
The panel of jury includes Saeed Shahlapour, Hamid Shans and Behrouz Daresh as well as two American and Korean sculptors while the selection board is made up of Daresh, Shans, Hamidollah Rezaei, Reza Qarehbaghi and Iraj Mohammadi.
The first to third winners of the event will receive 20, 15 and 10 gold coins respectively as well as a one-month sabbatical to France.

Music Group Fakhteh conducted by Reza Mousavizadeh will perform a concert to the accompaniment of Mahyar Shadravan as the vocalist in Vahdat Hall on November 29-30.
Announcing this, Mousavizadeh told MNA that the concert will be held in two sections.
Poems from Sa’di, Hafez, Ohadi Maraghei, Houshang Ebtehaj, and Rahi-Moayyeri will be performed in the first section while the second section will feature pieces such as ’Broken Mirror’, ’Shame and Interest’, ’Hidden Secret’, ’Dust in Desert’ and ’Minstrel of Sorrows’.
The group is made up of Ophelia Partov (on the piano), Gholamreza Sadreddini (Tonbak), Reza Mousavizadeh (Tar), Pejman Parsi (Santour), Keyvan Ali-Mohammadi and Mehdi Teimouri (flute).

The Academy of Persian Language and Literature, in its seventh session with the Iranology Foundation, will discuss the shortcomings in compiling the history of Persian literature.
According to MNA, Ahmad Samiei Gilani, a permanent member of the academy, will lecture on the development of Persian literature and the need to overcome the shortcomings at the session today.
Much of the materials about history of Persian language have been compiled after the 20th century. Most of the earlier texts dealt with brief introduction of poets without any criticism on their works. No comprehensive analysis on prose was available before that.