27th February 2019
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Prof. Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones: 'Locating the Women of Achaemenid Persia'
Women are notoriously difficult to find in the indigenous sources of Achaemenid Iran, but that is not to say that the iconography does not exist. Prof. Llewellyn-Jones highlights visual representations of women from across the Achaemenid empire and explores the diversity of female ‘types’ encountered in small-scale artworks like seal images, jewellery and textiles. He also considers how more recently Iranian artists, such as Hojat Shakiba, have projected an empowered image of Achaemenid women, which has contributed to a form of cultural myth-making about the freedom of women in the pre-Islamic past. |
23rd January 2019
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Prof. Alan Williams: 'Rumi Manuscripts and the John Rylands Library'
rof. Williams talks about the priceless collection of Persian manuscripts held in the John Rylands Library of the University of Manchester, and highlights issues such as conservation and research. He stresses how if nothing is done urgently, many of these manuscripts will remain in obscurity and, even worse, actually perish over time. |
3rd October 2018
12th September 2018
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Soosan Lolavar: 'Contemporary Composition in Iran'Talk by Soosan Lolavar
Soosan Lolavar is a British-Iranian composer and ethnomusicologist. In this talk she looks at a new movement in contemporary classical composition in Iran which combines elements of Iranian classical, religious, and folk music, with instruments, structures, and ideas from Western classical music. She also discusses at the questions of authenticity and ‘Iranian-ness’, exploring the global, regional, and diaspora Iranian identities as they are expressed through a new musical movement with trans-culturalism at its core. |
14th February 2018
17th January 2018
18th November 2017
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Urban Planning and Civic Design in Modern Iran
Conference The main purpose and focus of the conference was on the evolution of urban planning and civic design in Iran from traditional to modern, with discussions and critical evaluations of the shortcomings, failures and successes of the process. Two major civic design projects of the period will also be presented and discussed: the ‘Shahestān Pahlavi’, and ‘Urban Renewal of Mashhad City Centre’. |
4th October 2017
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Tombs of Achaemenid Kings and Queens:
the Persian funerary cult and its Elamite background Lecture by Dr Wouter Henkelman The complex relationship between the Elamites and the Persians has long been a subject for discussion. New light on this intriguing question is cast by information contained in cuneiform tablets in the Persepolis Fortification Archive, some of them still unpublished. |
14th June 2017
31st March 2017
12th November 2016
23rd March 2016
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The Achaemenid Persian Heritage: Greeks and Alexander
Achaemenid Persia of the 6th to 4th century BC was the greatest of the empires of the Old World, rivalling even that of Rome. It created a road system virtually from the Mediterranean to China, and its political organisation in satrapies was the most efficient of antiquity. |
16th December 2015
2nd December 2015
4th November, 2015
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Digital Reconstruction of Historical Sites in Iran, from Susa to Isfahan
3-D reconstructions of the past are excellent tools for informing and educating the public, but one of the primary challenges facing historical reconstruction is how to recreate the past and demonstrate the results, when the surviving remains are so fragmentary. |
7th October 2015
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The Caspian Horse: 50th anniversary of its rediscovery
2015 is the 50th anniversary of the rediscovery of the Caspian horse. To celebrate this, TV director and Caspian Horse Society council member, Farokh Khorooshi has teamed up with renowned equine photographer Colin Barker to produce a commemorative calendar depicting Caspians throughout the world, including their native Iran. |
2nd September 2015
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Sa‘di’s Bustan for Shah Jahan: The Case of a Manuscript by Hakim Rukna
Dr Baburi highlights one of the British Library’s finest manuscripts, a Bustan transcribed in bold nasta‘liq calligraphy by Hakim Rukna. The manuscript was either commissioned by or presented as a gift to Emperor Shah Jahan I (r. 1628-1658) alongside a copy of the Gulistan copied earlier by the same calligrapher. |
1st July 2015
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Remembering Iran: Zoroastrian Themes in Persian and Gujarati Texts
Lecture by Dr Sarah Stewart. This talk discussed the development of Parsi identity on Indian soil, which was both shaped and challenged by feelings of allegiance to the old country mixed with a desire to put down roots in the new. It will draw on texts – religious, epic and poetic - that represent different literary traditions and reflect the shifting relations between Parsis in India and their co-religionists in Iran. |
14th June 2015
28th May 2015
6th May 2015
1st April 2015
4th March 2015
16th - 18th January 2015
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From Persepolis to Isfahan: Safeguarding Cultural Heritage
This conference focussed on protecting the cultural heritage of Iran. As is well known cultural heritage worldwide is under threat, and from many countries there are stories of damage to monuments and archaeological sites allied to ongoing deterioration of cultural resources. |
14ty January 2015
3rd December 2014
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Food For Thought
Chaired by Dr Sussan Babaie of the Courtauld Institute, a panel of culinary experts discusses Persian food, their relationship with it, its characteristics, and its representation today. Our panellists reflect the growing popularity of Persian cuisine in the UK and worldwide, offering a more modern approach to traditional methods. |
5th November 2014
19th February 2013
13th January 2013
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Persian Manuscript Digitisation Project at the British Library
The Iran Heritage Foundation is fundraising for this important project, which will catalogue and digitise some of the many Persian manuscripts in the British Library's collection, making these freely accessible to scholars and enthusiasts worldwide via the Internet. |
25th March 2011
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Celebrating the Spring Equinox: Introduction to Norouz.
As part of IHF's initiative to digitise as much material as possible and to reach the widest possible audience around the world, IHF is offering its second Podcast, providing a recording of the 25th March 2011 study day lectures by Dr Moya Carey and Dr. Hossein Elahi-Ghomshei at the Victoria and Albert Museum, on the subject of "Norouz." |
25th March 2011
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Hossein Elahi-Ghomshei - The Mythology of Norouz in Persian Literature.
As part of IHF's initiative to digitise as much material as possible and to reach the widest possible audience around the world, IHF is offering its second Podcast, providing a recording of the 25th March 2011 study day lectures by Dr Moya Carey and Dr. Hossein Elahi-Ghomshei at the Victoria and Albert Museum, on the subject of "Norouz." |
March 2011
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Making Connections
This 8-minute film showcases some of IHF's programmes on Persian language, including the 2010 Shahnameh exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and IHF's Institutional Partnership Programme, which supports Persian studies teaching and curatorial posts at universities and museums. |
March 2011
December 2010
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The Shahnameh is one of the great monuments of World literature, written by Ferdowsi around 1000 AD and of central importance in the cultural sphere of Greater Persia. In preserving the memory and the spirit of a heroic past, it has continued to inspire his countrymen in all areas of life and art, influencing, amongst others, generations of poets.
In his lecture, Dick Davis will talk about the importance of the Shahnameh in the subsequent development of Persian poetry. In many ways the uniqueness of the Shahnameh sets it apart from Persian poetry in general, but Dick Davis' talk will explore how themes and techniques of the poem became central concerns for many of the major Persian poets who followed Ferdowsi, even when, as for example with many Sufi poets, their works show few obvious resemblances to Ferdowsi's great masterpiece." |
September 2010
March 2010
