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Ancient Persia @ Getty Museum (Photo Gallery)

By Pejman Akbarzadeh
Source: BBC Persian TV

Los Angeles is home to the largest Persian community outside of Persia. However, seeing major exhibitions of Persian culture and history in this city is still a rare opportunity. The Getty Museum in Los Angeles is currently displaying over 200 objects from ancient dynasties of Persia. The exhibition has been warmly received but has had a controversial side too.

The exhibition is entitled “Persia“; which is the historical and official international name of Iran until 1935. Although the name was changed by order of Reza Shah in that year, it is still common in foreign languages because of its historical and cultural associations.

“Our collection is very traditional in a way of being Greek and Roman Art. But we feel we need to understand the ancient world in a broader way. So we staged a number of exhibitions to show other civilisations that interacted with Greeks and Romans.” says Jeffery Spier, co-curator of the exhibition. “A few years ago we showed the Egypt and perhaps the greatest civilisation of them all was ancient Iran/Persia. This exhibition tries to show three pre-Islamic Persian dynasties that interacted with the Greeks and Romans; since the beginning of the Achaemenid Empire, established by Cyrus the Great, until the fall of the Sassanians.” Spier added.

Although the Persian Empire is considered the first superpower of the ancient world, general knowledge about it is scant compared to other ancient civilizations, such as Greece and Rome. Parvaneh Pourshariati, an Associate Professor of History at New York City College of Technology, believes “at one point we fell behind, during the Industrial Revolution. Throughout the imperialist and colonialist eras of the early 19th century, the orientalists started to study our languages and do the excavations. But our history was not as important as the history they thought belonged to them, the history of Greece and Rome. Since a certain period, others began to write our history as we had not attempted to do so.”

Among the displayed objects at the Getty Museum, a short sword [akinakes] has generated enormous arguments among archaeologists. This golden sword, attributed to the Achaemenid Artaxerxes I, has never been displayed before. A few media outlets in Tehran have hastily called the sword ‘fake’. However, most archaeologists, while pointing out its differences with similar objects from the Achaemenid era, particularly the design and number of languages carved on the sword, have deferred their final judgment until laboratory examinations. The Getty Museum’s response was brief and siding provide details:
“We have no doubts as to the object’s authenticity but it’s a loan object, not part of our collection, so we can’t speak further to it.”

The Getty Museum has borrowed various objects from North American, European, and Middle Eastern museums for this exhibition. The absence of objects from the museums in Persia/Iran is notable. Iran-US political tensions have affected the cultural-academic exchanges between the two countries.

* The author may be reached by e-mail as pejman.akbarzadeh2 [@] gmail.com

SEE ALSO:
– “Between Sea & Sky”: ‌Blue and White Ceramics from Persia and Beyond” (+Video)
– “Persian Treasure of Dagestan National Museum” (Video)
– “A documentary on Sasanian monument Taq Kasra“

“Between Sea & Sky”: ‌Blue and White Ceramics from Persia and Beyond (+Video)

By Pejman Akbarzadeh
Source: BBC Persian TV

The Fine Arts Museum of Houston with over 70,000 works, is one of the largest museums in the United States. The museum has organised a unique exhibition of Persian ceramics. The objects, however, are not from the museum’s own treasure but on loan from one of the largest private collections of Persian art. Most of this collection has never been exhibited in public before.

“Between Sea and Sky” is the title that the museum has chosen for its Persian ceramics exhibition. It refers to the history of blue and white ceramics between China and Persia and beyond starting in the 8^th century. Persian artists used their own motifs to make these ceramics and in this process contributed to the diversity of the world of ceramics.

“We are so very proud to present the ceramics of Hossein Afshar’s collection at this exhibition” say Gary Tinterow, director of the museum. “For thousands of years, Chinese ceramics were sent around the world and imitated by many. In this exhibition attention has been paid to this art in Persianate lands and exchanges between these cultures” he says.

In the exhibition over 100 ceramics have been shown from a period of approximately 800 years: from the 9th-century, when Persia was part of the Islamic caliphate in Abbasid era, through the 17^th-century under the Safavid dynasty.

“The inspiration for this exhibition starts with a single dish. From a distance it looks a typical Chinese dish but when we analyse that closer, in the center you see the “Lion and Sun” the ancient symbol of Persian kingship. This symbol has been embedded skilfully among the Chinese patterns. Actually in this single dish you can see hundreds of years of artistic exchanges between Chinese and Persian ceramics.” says Aimée Froom, curator of the exhibition.

*13th-century Persian bowl, the Collection of Hossein Afshar, MFAH*

The Persian blue and white ceramics were gradually transformed. The ceramic makers started to use stone-paste and cities like Kashan, Neyshabur and Kerman gained enormous fame in this field. The ending period in the exhibition is the Safavid era; a period which is known as the rebirth of the Persian Empire. Shah Abbas was a great enthusiast of ceramics. He was a patron of local artists in this field and also had a collection of Chinese ceramics himself.

“Safavid potters produced their works in many different techniques, of which ‘blue and white’ was just one of them. Their work was an integral part of the urban landscape in the capital city of Isfahan. It is documented in written records, tile panels and paintings”, says Aimée Froom, curator of the exhibition.

The efforts of Hossein Afshar, owner of this collection, to make a museum in Iran to present these works have not been successful up to now. His blue and while ceramics, which are among the finest, are on loan at Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts. The museum is going to publish a full catalogue of Hossein Afshar Collection’s Persian ceramics in 2022.

[The program was aired from BBC Persian TV’s news bulletin on 6 July 2021.]

ALSO WATCH:
No One Knowns about Iraqi Museum’s Persian Collection

Persian Treasure of Dagestan National Museum

World Premiere of “Taq Kasra: Wonder of Architecture” in London

Protected: Taq Kasra: Wonder of Architecture

Persian Treasure of Dagestan National Museum

By Pejman Akbarzadeh

Dagestan National Museum, in the Russian Federation, holds a collection of Persian artefacts and manuscripts which is little known elsewhere. One of the important documents in this museum is a royal Persian order [farman/firman], over 300 years old, from the Safavid king Sultan Husayn to the ruler of Derbent. At that time Derbent was part of the Persian Empire. It was conquered by Russia in 1813, following the Treaty of Golestan and now is part of the Autonomous Republic of Dagestan.

Following the Russian-Persian wars a large part of this land became separated from Persian (Iranian) soil. However, there are still various signs of Persian culture and history in Dagestan, especially at the National Museum in Makhachkala.

*National Museum of Dagestan (Takho-Godi) in Makhachkala*

The museum in its current form was founded in 1924. A multitude of historical documents and artefacts are kept there but a complete catalogue of its acquisitions has not yet been published.

Persian artefacts (mainly weapons) are displayed in three galleries. Some of the items were originally used in the daily life of the Dagestan’s people, such as riding flasks, and dishes decorated with birds or other animals. “Many Dagestanis worked as jewellers within what are now Persia’s modern boundaries. They bought various items which they then took back to Dagestan, such as things for interior design and architecture, but mainly weapons”, Miriam Sagitova, a curator at the museum, says. “Many wars took place in Dagestan and several Khans lived here. These Khans would buy weapons to keep in their homes but, after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, they sold the weapons to museums. Therefore, many weapons in our collection come from those private collections.”

*Afsharid-era Persian helmet, National Museum of Dagestan, Makhachkala*

Alongside the weapons, dishes and tiles, one of the unique items at the National Museum of Dagestan is a farman (written royal decree). It was sent from Shah Sultan Husayn to the governor of Derbent in 1705. “Safavids and other Persian rulers governed the city of Derbent/Darband in Dagestan, where some had family ties with the local rulers. They kept their royal documents in their homes and some are now in the archive of Dagestan National Museum, Miriam Sagitova says. “We have displayed one of them in the gallery.”

One of the other valuable collections in the museum is of paintings with indirect link to Persia/Iran. Various historical exchanges between Persia and Russia are depicted in them, and include a work by François Roubaud: best-known for his panoramic paintings. Roubaud, in this painting, has depicted the Persian Campaign of Peter the Great in 1722, and his meeting with the Persian ruler of Dagestan. After the Bolshevik Revolution this painting was transferred to Russia, from Georgia.

*Roubaud in this painting, has depicted the Persian Campaign of Peter the Great in 1722.*

“Many items in our museum have been transferred from the Caucasus Museum in Tbilisi. This was done after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, as well as after the Russian victory in the Caucasus War in the mid-19th century,” Miriam Sagitova says. “Today, the National Museum is named after Takho Godi, one of the educated and intellectual figures of the Bolshevik Revolution who had a key role in collecting the items for this museum.”

Information on the collections in Dagestan National Museum, including its Persian treasure, is quite limited. In several online sources it is mistaken with Dagestan Art Museum, which is a separate institution. The identification of many cultural institutions in Russia, especially those distant from Moscow and St. Petersburg, is still at an early stage.

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This article was originally published in Persian on the London-based “Iran International” website.

Selected Bibliography of Persian Music (in English)

Compiled by Pejman Akbarzadeh

– Ackerman, Phyllis. “The Character of Persian Music“. A Survey of Persian Art, 3, 1939.

– Asadi, Hooman. “Aspects of Musical Life in 19th Century Persia“. Paper presented to the Conference on the Qajar Epoch. 1-4 September, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1999.

– Beeman, William. “You Can Take the Music Out of the Country, but … : The Dynamics of Change in Iranian Musical Tradition“, Asian Music, 7 : 2 (1974).

– Blum, Stephen. “The Concept of ‘Asheq in Northern Khorasan“. Journal of the Society for Asian Music, 4, 1972.

– Blum, Stephen. “Music in Contact; The Cultivation of Oral Repertoires in Meshed, Iran“. Ph.D., University of Illinois, Urbana, 1972.

– Caron, Nelly. “The Ta’zieh, the Sacred Theatre of Iran“. The World of Music, 17:4 (1975).

– Caton, Margaret. “The Classical ‘Tasnif’; A Genre of Persian Vocal Music“. Ph.D., University of California at Los Angeles, 1983.

– Christensen, Arthur. “Persian Melody-names of the Sasanian Period“. Hoshang Memorial Volume, Bombay, 1918.

– During, Jean. “Music, Poetry and Visual Arts in Persia“. The World of Music, 1, 1982.

– Farhat, Hormoz. “The Dastgah Concept in Persian Music“. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1990.

– Farhat, Hormoz. “Western Musical Influences in Persia“. Musicological Annual XXVII, Ljublijana, 1991.

– Farmer, Henry George. “The Old Persian Musical Modes“. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1937.

– Farmer, Henry George. “The Instruments of Music on the Taq-i Bustan, Bas-Reliefs“. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1938.

– Gerson-Kiwi, Edith. “The Persian Doctorin of Dastgah Composition; (A Phonemenological Study in the Musical Modes)”, Tel-Aviv, 1963.

– Hajjarian, Mohsen [Aryan, M.H.]. “Ghazal as a Determining Factor on the Structure of the Iranian Dastgah“. Ph.D. Maryland University 1999.

– Khoshzamir, Mojtaba. “Ali Naqi Vaziri and his Influence on Music and Music Education in Iran“.Ph.D., University of Illinois, Urbana, 1979.

– Khoshzamir, Mojtaba. “Aspects of the Persian tasnif“. University of Illinois, unpublished M.M. thesis, 1975.

– Klitz, Brian, and Norman Cherlin. “Musical Acculturation in Iran“. Iranian Studies 4, 1971.

– Lucas, Ann. “Music of a thousand years : a new history of Persian musical traditions“, University of California Press, 2019.

– Mahmoud, Parviz. “A Theory of Persian Music and Its Relation to Western Practice“. Ph.D., Indiana University, 1956.

– Miller, Lloyd. “Music and Song in Persia“. Curzon Press, London, 1999.

– Modir, Hafez. “Research Model in Ethnomusicology Applied to the Radif Phenomenon in Iranian Classical Music“, Pacific Review of Ethnomusicology 3, 1986.

– Mohammadi, Mohsen. “Modal modernities: formation of Persian classical music and the recording of a national tradition” Ph.D dissertation, Utrecht University, 2017.

– Movahed, Azin. “The Persian Nei: A Study of the Instrument and Its Musical Style“. University of Illinois, 1993.

– Nettl, Bruno. “The Radif of Persian Music, Studies of Structure and Cultural Context“, Elephant and Cat. Champaign, Illinois, 1987.

– Nettl, Bruno with Bela Foltin. Jr., “Daramad of Chahargah; a Study in the Performance Practice of Persian Music“. Michigan: Information Coordinators Inc., 1972.

– Nooshin, Laudan. “The processes of creation and recreation in Persian classical music.” Ph.D dissertation, University of London, 1996.

– Paranj, Shahab. “The Concept and Organization of the Rhythm in Persian Āvāzi-Sytle Music” Ph.D dissertation, UCLA. 2021.

– Sadeghi, Manoochehr, “Improvisation in Nonrhythmic solo Instrumental Contemporary Persian Art Music“, MA, California State College at Los Angeles, 1971.

– Simms, Rob. “Avaz in the Recordings of Mohammad Reza Shajarian“. unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of Toronto, Faculty of Music, 1996.

– Talai, Dariush. “A New Approach to the Theory of Persian Art Music“. Mahur Cultural & Art Publications, Tehran, 1993.

– Tsuge, Gen’ichi. “Rhythmic Aspects of Avaz in Persian Music“. Ethnomusicology, 14 , 1970.

– Wright, Owen. “The Modal System of Arab and Persian Music AD 1250-1300“, London: Oxford University Press,1978.

– Zonis, Ella. “Contemporary Art Music in Persia“. Musical Quarterly, 51, 1965.

-Zonis, Ella. “Classical Persian Music; An Introduction“. Cambridge-Mass:, Harvard University Press, 1973.

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NOTE : Persia = Iran

ATESHGAH: A Persian Fire Temple That Became a Mosque

By Pejman Akbarzadeh
Source: BBC Persian Service
28 June 2019

On the tourism websites of the Republic of Georgia, a Persian name attracted my attention: ‘Atashgah’. It means ‘place of fire’ and its use is usually associated with Zoroastrian fire temples. The history of the Atashgah in the capital city of Tbilisi goes back to the 5th or 6th century, when Persia was ruled by the Sasanian dynasty, of which Georgia was a part.

Until 2007, Tbilisi’s Atashgah was in danger of destruction, until finally − with the financial support of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs − it was restored and a protective roof was installed. Historical fire temples outside the modern borders of Persia (Iran) are quite rare.

Tbilisi’s Atashgah, or Ateshgah as they pronounce it in Georgian, is built on the foothills, below the historical fortress Narikala. It may be the northernmost Zoroastrian fire temple in the world.
“In various 17th-century travelogues, including Chardin’s and Tournefort’s, the Ateshgah is mentioned as one of the famous buildings of Tbilisi,” says Guram Kipiani, an archaeology professor at the Ilia State University in Tbilisi. “Analysing the construction layers of the monument clearly shows it was originally built in Chahar-Taqi style, which is a common style in the Sasanian era. However, it was changed in the later centuries,” he adds.

Current Status of Tbilis’s Ateshgah
The Atashgah is now located in Tbilisi’s old town, in the yard of a house. To visit the site you need to knock on the landlord’s door. As many people are not aware of this requirement, they believe it is closed. In 19th-century photographs, a dome can be seen at the top of the building. This dome collapsed and was not rebuilt. Today, just the main room (8.2×8.5 metres) remains. The height of the external walls is approximately seven metres. The fire temple is built on mountain stones and its floor is not flat. In recent years, a wooden platform has been installed which visitors may walk on.

^{Ateshgah’s dom in the 1900 book Tiflis: souvenirs d’une mission by Baron Joseph de Baye.}

A Fire Temple That Became a Mosque
Various changes were made in the Islamic era to the original building of the Atashgah. Its interior design, for example, features broken arches, which is a distinctive characteristic of post-Islamic architecture. Following the Arab conquest of Persia in the 7th century, usage of the building as a fire temple was halted. Prof Kipiani believes that in the 8th century, when the Arabs were firmly settled in the area, the fire temple was turned into a mosque. “They filled the arches and attached decorative facades,” he says.

Alexander Chulukhadze, head of the Oriental Studies department at the University of Georgia, adds: “Arabs stayed in Tbilisi for around four centuries. We have no information about the situation of the Zoroastrian community in this era but, based on historical sources, in the 11th and 12th centuries, the Ateshgah became an observatory. Through these centuries, various changes were made to the building. However, the original layers of brick from the Sasanian period still exist.”
Georgia became part of the Persian Empire once again in the 16th century, when the Safavid dynasty came to power. Prof Chulukhadze believes that, after the collapse of Safavid Empire, the Ottoman Turks conquered Tbilisi and the building once again became a mosque. “Any inscription on the site would most likely have been destroyed,” he says.

360-degree video courtesy of Ali Mozaffari

The Ottomans were expelled from Tbilisi in the 1730s after Persia’s Nader Shah campaign in the Caucasus. The Atashgah was gradually abandoned. The building was used as a warehouse for a while and was never restored. Prof Chulukhadze believes one of the reasons for such neglect in the early 20th century is the situation of the area under Stalin. “The communists destroyed various temples and mosques, thus the Georgian historians and archaeologists did not mention the Ateshgah in their works on purpose. They did not want to attract any attention to this building which may cause its destruction. However, the Persian families were the owners of the building until the Russian invasion in the 19th century.”

In 1986, the Soviet government gave the Ateshgah the status of a site of ‘National Significance’. In 2007, years after the collapse of the USSR and creation of new independent states in the region, the government of Georgia assigned the Ateshgah the status of a site of ‘Cultural Heritage’.

(English translation of this article is funded by the World Zoroastrian Organisation; Read the original article in Persian)

RELATED CONTENT: Treasure of Persian Manuscripts at Dagestan Scientific Centre

Persian Collection of Dagestan National Museum in Makhachkala

Pejman Akbarzadeh

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Born in 1980 in Shiraz, Pejman Akbarzadeh is a documentary maker, journalist and pianist, based in The Netherlands. His reference book on the 20th-century composers and conductors of Persia (Iran), written when he was just 18, has been used as a source for academic publications including the Encyclopaedia Iranica. He has also performed Persian piano recitals in various European venues such as Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw.

In 2009 Pejman started a new phase of his career. Recognising the wider catchment of visual media over literature, that same year he completed his first documentary, the feature-length film Hayedeh: Legendary Persian Diva. The film was screened at festivals in both Europe and the United States and nominated for Best Documentary at the Noor Iranian Film Festival in Los Angeles.

Pejman began working as a journalist in 2000 – while still in Tehran – with media outlets including Yas-e Now, Shargh Newspaper and BBC Persian Service. Following a rise in state oppression of the press, he was invited to the Netherlands in 2006 to work with the Persian-language Radio Zamaneh as a senior producer for eight years. After that period he mainly contributes to BBC Persian Television/Radio and website from Europe, Middle East and Caucasus.

Taq Kasra: Wonder of Architecture (2018) is Pejman Akbarzadeh’s second documentary film, for which he traveled to Iraq twice, despite the lurking presence of ISIL nearby.

Funded by Soudavar Memorial and Toos Foundations, the film premiered at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (SOAS) in February 2018 and subsequently screened at various international conferences, museums and universities including the Smithsonian Institution’s Freer|Sackler Gallery in Washington DC, Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Yale University, the 8th Biennial Convention of the Association for the Study of the Persianate Societies in Tbilisi and the 12th Conference of the Iranian Studies Association at UC Irvine.

Currently Pejman Akbarzadeh working on a documentary film on the UNESCO World Heritage Site ‘Derbent Fortifications‘ which is the largest defensive structure of Sasanian Persia in Caucasus. The site is now located in Russia’s Dagestan region.

Persian objects @ Dutch National Museum of Antiquities

National Museum of Antiquities (RMO: Rijksmuseum van Oudheden) is one of the favorite museums in the Netherlands for those who are interested in the history and culture of the Near East (Persia, Egypt, Mesopotamia…). The museum is based in the student city of Leiden.

In regard of ancient Persia, RMO holds a great collection of metalworks from Luristan province, jewelleries from Hamedan, potteries, arms, etc.

Pejman Akbarzadeh on Facebook

SEE ALSO:
VIDEO: Art of Persia @ Freer & Sackler Gallery, Washington DC

VIDEO: THE PERSIANS: WARRIORS AND POETS
Exhibition @ World Museum, Rotterdam

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Tags : Alte Persien / Oud Perzië / Iran / Perzische kunst / Iraanse / Perzen / Rijksmuseum van Oudheden / La Perse antique / Ancient Iranian / Persa / Persiska / Persiana / Persischen / Iranische / Holland / Nederland / Persane

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JIROFT: Rare Artifacts from South East Persia

Rare Persian artifacts are on display at the Art and Exhibition Hall of Germany (Bundeskunsthalle) in an exhibition entitled “Iran: Ancient Cultures between Water and Desert”. The exhibition is organized in the city of Bonn with cooperation of Iran’s National Museum and Cultural Heritage Organization in Tehran.

An exceptional part of the current exhibition is showing the carved vessels which have been discovered around the city of Jiroft and Halil River in South East Persia. In 2001 police seized a large number of these objects looted from the Bronze Age necropolises in the Kerman province.

The archaeologists believe the finds shed new light on the Bronze Age in the region and the production of vessels made of chlorite, alabaster and other stones; but because the objects were looted, their original find context and the knowledge it might have yielded will forever remain lost to archaeological research.

ALSO WATCH: Iraqi Museum’s Persian Collection
(Produced by Pejman Akbarzadeh in Baghdad for BBC Persian Service)

CTESIPHON: Persian Sources of Islamic Art
An Exhibition at Pergamonmuseum, Berlin

Canadian Excavations in Persia
An Interview with Ed Keall, Royal Ontario Museum

Baghdad, Iraq, Christmas 2016

NOTE: The photos have not been taken in stable situation. All photos are subject of copyright.

Years after the end of bombardment, signs of war can be seen everywhere in the center of Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Baghdad looks quite Shia in these days. Some Iraqi friends believe, comparing to Saddam era, people have become more religious in the land.

The 5-star Hotel Palestine; the hotel got fame worldwide in 2003 when an American tank fired a shell on it, killing two journalists.

The building of Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage.

National Museum of Iraq (formerly known as Baghdad Archaeological Museum)

Morning traffic in Baghdad starts on 7:00 and hopefully ends on 10:00!

Once upon a time it was the office of SwissAir in Baghdad.

The Caliphs Mosque (aks Khulafa Mosque)

Mansour Mall, in the rich and relatively modern Mansour district of Baghdad

QUZI, a traditional food in Iraq

Baghdad International Airport (formerly known as Saddam Airport) Road.

An old aircraft of Iraqi Airways in the entrance of Baghdad International Airport

Video: Christmas time in Baghdad:

Copyright Holder: Pejman Akbarzadeh
Contact info.: pejman.akbarzadeh2 [at] gmail.com

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Tags: Irak – Βαγδάτη – Bagdad – 바그다드 – बग़दाद – בגדאד – Bexda – バグダード – Багдад- 巴格达 – العراق – Ιράκ – 이라크 – עיראק – イラク – 伊拉克 – Iraq – Baghdad – بغداد – عراق

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