Culture

Radiofarda – In an odd and unprecedented ruling Iran’s Supreme Court has handed over the ownership of part of the country’s highest mountain, Mount Damavand, to an organization that operates under the direct supervision of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Hamshahri newspaper in Tehran reported on Sunday July 26 that an official title deed has been issued to Iran’s Endowments Organization …

Radiofarda – The Iranian Writers Association on Friday said security forces prevented the friends and fans of Ahmad Shamlou, prominent poet and writer, from paying tribute to him on his death anniversary. A statement published on Friday on the Writers Association’s Facebook page said some of the board members who had gone to a cemetery in Karaj where he is …

PayvandNews – The Persian Dutch Network presents a recording which has been banned in Tehran for three decades: an opera based on a famous poem by Ahmad Shamlu, known as the ‘Poet of Freedom’ in Persia (Iran) Shamlu was an outspoken advocate for freedom of speech in his homeland, which caused serious restrictions to his activities, imposed by both the monarchy …

PayvandNews – Archaeologists have unearthed the ruins of two workshops, estimated to date from the Parthian era (247 BC – 224 CE), in Isfahan in a significant discovery that may push back the history of the central Iranian city in time by millennia. “The structures of two Parthian workshops – one, relating to a metal melting kiln and the other to a …

VOA – Thousands of Sufi mourners attended the funeral of their spiritual leader, Sheikh Mohammad al-Kasnazani, Friday in Iraq’s northeastern city of Sulaymaniyah. Among the mourners were more than 500 Iranian Kurdish Sufis who forced their way through the Iran-Iraq border to participate in the funeral rituals. VOA’s Rebaz Majeed attended the funeral and filed this report narrated by Bezhan …

Radiofarda – Burglars have “cleaned out” the Museum of Anthropology of old Tehran without leaving traces, the state-run Iran Students News Agency, ISNA, reports. The museum is in a mansion called Sara-ye Kazemi in one of the oldest neighborhoods in Tehran. The burglary took place three weeks ago and it is not clear why law enforcement and media did not …

PayvandNews – The creation of rock architecture across the Iranian plateau is influenced by the religious, geographical, and political atmosphere of their time. Such structures are mostly formed by dominated empires of the time. Sometimes a place of worship has continued to be served in later periods but is has been changed in their functions. Experts say one of the …

Radiozamaneh – The origin of Iranian nationalism remains a matter of debate. Many argue that it starts with Cyrus the Great in 500 BC, but alternative views give weight to the Pahlavi Dynasty in the twentieth century. The Concept of “Iranianness” most likely has roots across several historical eras. One of the most notable periods in this discussion dates back …

PayvandNews – An extensive dossier, which is an essential prerequisite for possible UNESCO inscription of a site, has almost been completed for the gigantic Tabas Geopark, which is situated in east-central Iran.  Tabas Geopark, which is situated in a vast county of the same name, has enormous potential to be registered as “the biggest geopark” [in West Asia region] and its trustees …

Variety – Taraneh Alidoosti, star of Asghar Farhadi’s “The Salesman” and one of Iran’s most popular female actors, is set to receive a five-month prison sentence on charges of anti-government activism, BBC Persia has reported. The BBC Persia report cited Alidoosti’s lawyer Kaveh Rad who tweeted that the sentence has been suspended for two years and would be officially announced in …