[Music] [Music] [Music] unveil your fortunate face your face is full of grace beyond the Gate of time lies a civilization with 7,000 years of celebrated Heritage a cradle of civilization a tolerant World [Music] Empire a crossroad of civilizations a world of artistic forms and [Music] shapes a kaleidoscope of architectural Marvels recreated for the first time [Music] Iran seven faces of a [Music] civilization the first region in Iran to develop a recorded history was [Music] kesta it bordered Mesopotamia and was the Abode for one of the earliest civilizations on the [Music] globe chamish this huge archaeological site that is behind me was settled around the 6800 BC by early farmers it gradually developed into a major town uh in the fourth millennium BC uh that was administered by state organizations among important objects found at chamish are a number of seal Impressions on Clay balls which have enabled us to portray different buildings and thus picture to the town with the help of archaeological findings the city was designed in such a way that administrative quarters uh and residential quarters and workshop quarters were all [Music] separated [Music] the alleys and the streets communicated beautifully with one another and this city had a sewer [Music] system the largest population Center in lowland kistan was however Souza here the earlier steps towards urbanization the Second Great revolution in human culture were taken by the elamites in my opinion this extraordinary land soua was the origin of a phenomenon in the world which we call the urban Revolution the Sumerians and elamites had taken the Fateful steps towards establishing civilization while the rest of the world was still in the prehistoric era Elam stretched from anhan to Souza from present day F to [Music] kistan almost all the technique that formed the Civilized societies were developed during the Millennia after the emergence of urban centers in Mesopotamia and [Applause] Iran architectural [Music] Innovations Metallurgy and [Music] geometry invention of wheel and even [Music] toys and finally abundant intricate pottery with beautiful [Music] designs [Music] as economic interaction intensified the subsequent need to record and store information eventually paved the way for the development of [Music] writing while the formation of cities marked the beginning of civilization the invention of writing separates history from prehistory and thus began the history of mankind ilam in the period between the 13th to 12th centuries BC under its most powerful King unas napara reached its [Music] [Applause] [Music] Zenith overlooking the river Diz he made a holy city called dur unai what we may call unb the present day choga [Music] Zan a glorious zigarette of a 100 by 100 m occupies the center of this Royal and religious City it consisted of five stages with a total height of more than 50 [Music] m here priests would conduct religious ceremonies while sacrifices were offered on special [Music] platforms the importance of women in the elmite society is indicated by this unique and Monumental lifesize statue of the elmite Queen napu the spouse of unas Naisha weighing more than 1750 kg it was unrivaled even in Egypt or Babylon sculpture and metalurgy were Advanced to a new height in the first millennium BC by the incoming tribes who had just established themselves in the Zagros Mountains in [Music] luristan to me the fascination is that they are so unusual and they're so alive and vigorous beautiful metal work to make one of the most elaborate listan bronzes you have to make a wax model first then you you cover the wax with Clay you bake the clay so it's hard and the wax in the inside melts out and then you pour the bronze into the space left by the wax so that each one is unique you can only do it once in 646 BC the elamite civilization was shattered by ashur banipal King of Assyria the Iranian tribes on the other hand eventually defeated the Assyrians and for the first time in history formed a noble and tolerant World Empire the aimen [Music] Empire the best known representatives of the Iranian tribes who had migrated and settled on the Iranian Plateau were the mes and the Persians speaking an Indo European language ancestral to Modern Persian the Iranian tribes while absorbing the Millennia old art tradition of the near East gave it a new invigorating flavor and [Music] [Applause] [Music] value this could be seen in the findings from the sites in Malik Hassan Lu and zier in present day gilan aaban and [Applause] [Music] Kurdistan in 559 BC Cyrus one of those rare leaders towards whom one cannot help but gravitate unified the mes and the Persians and initiated what had never been achieved before the first tolerant World [Music] Empire the greatest symbol of Persian tolerance is evident in the Cyrus cylinder an inscription found in 1879 at babyon sometimes referred to as the Cyrus bill of Human Rights [Music] tolerance was the key word in religions in this vast a cheminant Empire we all know how Cyrus freed the Jews from captivity in Babylonia so they could return to their homelands in Palestine but this was not the only case it happened later in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah as officers of the king who came back to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple they did the same thing in Egypt and in Babylonia and among the Greeks of Asia Minor in fact they are the first example of international religious freedom that we find in the history of [Music] mankind because of biblical references to Cyrus he was for centuries regarded as a model of a good ruler some Muslim Scholars also find zul can in the Quran to be a reference to [Music] [Music] Cyrus in celebration of his victories Cyrus elected an elaborate Royal Park in his capital city pasag which became the model for Persian Gardens since we had got two large rectangle if we divided it with the vision of power we got four pars or a chahar [Music] Bach this is one of those very important Persian discoveries in design which the world has taken as a model and was taken uh eventually to India and to Spain the most brilliant ained King in administration was Darius the great who brought the Empire to its Pinnacle in Egypt he built a canal between the Red Sea and the Nile anticipating the modern sewers [Music] Canal at the same time a great Highway of, 1600 M stretching from Souza to the Mediterranean Shore was devised using this road an efficient Courier Service a forerunner of the Pony Express was introduced to regulate the social and economic life of the Empire taxes were systemized and weights measures and monetary units standardized to simplify commercial [Applause] Exchange in many ways the Persian Empire was responsible for transmitting a myriad of cultural and technological achievements of the near East to the Greco Roman civilization Darius the great whom Plato has praised as the lawgiver established a code of law known as the ordinance of good regulations which were carried into all distant lands in fact at this time time a new word for law appeared in the whole near East the Iranian data which was Borrowed by Armenian Hebrew and Acadian [Music] languages this papirus from Egypt Bears a legal text under Pharaoh Darius and this clay tablet is a contract for Leasing of a house in the fifth year of Darius the Great's [Music] Reign some 2,500 years ago pilis was the Sumptuous capital of the great Persian Empire which according to deodor culus was the richest city under the [Music] sun reminiscent of the vastness of the Persian Empire are the 23 groups of gift bearers from all over the Empire depicted on the pilis reliefs here the dignitaries from all over the Empire gathered for New Year [Music] celebrations [Music] coming up to apadana the visitor is quite impressed by the size of the columns which were about 20 M [Music] High then passing through the giant doors that were 18 M high he would enter the huge audience Hall his heart is beating faster and faster he can see a forest of columns the multicolor Carpets on the floor a huge ornamented roof and finally in the background he would ultimately see the king himself Seated on his throne [Music] unfortunately in 330 BC in an act of vandalism pilis was destroyed by the fire kindled by Alexander and his Macedonian army thus the richest city under the sun was no [Music] more only 7 years after the fall of PPH Alexander died in 323 BC hence his successors known as the CDs ruled over Iran for more than a century eventually the paeans a persian-speaking tribal Confederation from the Northeast drove the cusd out of the Iranian territories and ruled for almost four [Music] centuries the earliest Iranian contact with Christianity took place during this era when three wise men or parean priests traveled from Iran to Nazareth to pay homage to the Infant Jesus consequently Christianity has had almost 2,000 years of history in the Iranian cultural climate the pathans were eventually challenged by an ambitious and Powerful governor of fars ardesia [Music] papan in 224 ad adashia established the new sassanian Dynasty named after his grandfather sassan it was a time um that was of course to lead under the parthians and cenans to a point where the zoroastrian religion became the religion of Iran uh the King was in a sense um the representative of aor Mazda the the voice of the god um the person who kept the balance between the forces of Good and Evil kingship and the religion were one entity traditionally zarasa is believed to have lived sometime between 900 and 800 BC Zoroastrianism is still practiced in some parts of Iran and [Music] India sesanian kings were known as city builders adash special and unpar paralled Heritage is the radiant layout of his [Music] town adashia huray or the glory of adashia which spreads beyond the city wall and all over the plain like the 20 spokes of a gigantic [Music] wheel [Music] it was 2 km in diameter with its 40 m high tower in the center as a symbol of god-given centralistic [Music] [Music] kingship the location of the cenan Empire between the Far East and Europe had made it not only the link between east and west but according to Jay dheta as the spiritual bridge for Humanity and a crossroad of civilizations through this Crossroad Iranian works of art reached the Far Corners of the known [Music] world for over a millennium Iranian Merchants dominated trade between China and Europe through the Silk Road centuries before Marco Polo set foot on Chinese soil a precious commodity was the cian glassware this is a interesting uh craft because of course these are very breakable and so they're very very valuable so that uh when you find a piece of beautiful uh glasswar let's say in Jerusalem or anywhere else in Palestine or even Egypt and it's identifiable as C and you have to think this came a long way at Great expense and was highly prized this was something that they mastered the technique of of of making these things and it was transported throughout the world they influence to the many cultural heritage and the Japanese emperor Shu loved Iranian specimen caret glass whar music instrument [Music] Etc this marvelous cenan glass tray now at the bibliotech naal de France depicts the cenan king [Music] anir anoshirvan is celebrated for his great Ivan known as the Taki Kasra in Tesson this great EV B was originally about 50 m in length 26 M in width and 37 m in height to the top of the [Music] [Applause] Vault wider than any vault in Europe the French traveler Pascal Coast remarked that the Romans had nothing similar to [Applause] [Music] it the cenan period was a high point for luxurious life in Antiquity from feasting to hunting playing musical instruments to playing chess and Polo cenan Kings had a special interest in depicting their glorious moments in silver dishes as well as rock [Music] reliefs the image of two animals facing one another is a special feature of sasanian art although this textile you see here was discovered in Egypt it actually belongs to sasanian Iran here you can see the mythical animals facing each other as well as peacocks a lot of similar textiles were taken to Europe and they undoubtedly had an effect on bantine textiles the influence of cenan motifs can be seen on the external wall of the 12 12 Century ad Church of stian in B France and on the textiles from Italy Spain and even remote places in the Far East such as Japan the reign of cenans is distinguished by their numerous encounters with Rome followed by Byzantium various Wars between these two Powers exhausted both sides and made them vulnerable to a New Rising Force by the middle of the 7th Century the cenan Empire had weakened considerably because of wars with Byzantium internal corruption high taxation the cast system had woried the people so they were ready to accept a new Revolution becoming of Islam and Islamic troops into the Fertile Crescent and into Iran [Music] see Unity utter Unity no unity in this this is to be summarized the trunk and branches of the tree of Faith Islam brought a revelation which like a rain poured upon the soil of the soul of the Iranian people who because of many factors including the rise of mannequin ISM and mazdaism and during the Sanic period and many uh social and religious and political events were ready for the reception of this new message [Music] the Iranians created a very major civilization before the rise of Islam but the intellectual aspect of Persian civilization flowered with the coming of Islam [Music] to a people and a religion open to the world for novel ideas the Iranians brought a unique gift the experiences of an ancient and wellestablished civilization which the Arab rulers eagerly Incorporated including the ways to govern to collect taxes and to establish Monumental architecture and [Music] art the BAM Citadel in Southeastern Iran is the largest and oldest mudbrick city in the [Music] world here before the devastating 2003 earthquake distinct sectors were noticeable that could give us a relatively clear picture as to how the early Islamic cities in Iran might have [Music] looked it consisted of the residential quarter that included a hypo style mosque without a dome and a long Bazaar All In closed by the main [Music] [Music] Rampart then there was the governor's quarters on the hill enclosed by another wall [Music] a brilliant contribution of Iranian Engineers was the development of the [Music] Dome as can be seen at the remains of the ardhia palace near fbad the inventive Iranian Engineers had solved the question of putting a round Dome on a square base by inventing squinches [Music] [Applause] [Music] thus in the Islamic period the use of Domes in the building of mosques started in Iran and spread to the whole Islamic World Prophet Muhammad's decree for both men and women to learn and acquire Knowledge from Cradle to the Grave encouraged Muslims to to pursue [Music] learning from the 9th century onwards many Iranian Muslims became prominent figures in medicine and other disciplines the greatest of these figures were razi and AIS razi known as raziz in the west is also credited with the isolation of alcohol and its use in medicine as an antiseptic razi was the first physician to write A Treatise on [Music] Pediatrics this is the resting place of [Music] abis a thousand years ago abis was one of the world's leading figures in philosophy medicine and pharmacology his medical treatises known as Canon was a basic text at Oxford and melier as late as the 17th century since in those times the church had banned research and studies science was under great pressure in Europe when the achievements of Islamic scholars in various Sciences reached Europe through translated books from Spain Sicily or by students in cordiva then science began to progress here therefore Islamic scholars were the purveyors of Science in Europe [Music] Vis in mathematics kazmi from whence we get the word logarithm and algorithm introduced algebra to Europe as well as the decimal system of numerals instead of Roman [Music] numerals while Omar kayam classified the forms of cubic [Music] equations and buun did pioneering Works in geography and empirical physics even a calun the 14th century Arab philosopher of History has thus recapitulated this development most Muslim Scholars both in religious and intellectual Sciences were Persians thus the truth of the statement of the Prophet becomes apparent if learning was suspended at the highest parts of Heaven the Persians would attain [Music] it [Music] the Iranians played a major role in the development of Islamic civilization yet they preserved much of their cultural heritage including the Persian language as a result by the second half of the 9th century a number of local dynasties that emerged in the eastern part of Iran mainly in the corasan region became the proponents of Persian poetry and literature this trend continued even when the seljuks a large nomadic clan of turkic origin pushed through Iran in the 11th century they were eventually transformed into the rulers of a centralized State under the influence of Iranian administrative institutions already in place all the politics financial and administrative institutions had been created by the able officers cler and bureaucracy of Iranians the top model of death was n m hiset became almost the Constitution for centuries for Turks and other Islamic [Music] peoples two centuries before the first European University was founded at bologna nisam Al mul for the first time established universities with a unique campus system at nishapur isaham and other major cities they gave rewards to people to the students who did very well and and achieved a certain degree such that they gave them Robes of honor and even Talisman caps and I think that it's fairly generally agreed that this is the origin of the cap and gown which you wear in Western universities when you get degrees when you finish your course of study that it goes back for well almost a th000 years to the [Music] [Music] [Applause] east Persian poetry is unique in the world for its depth richness and creativity and there is an intimate mingling of Persian mysticism and Persian [Music] literature the love for for poetry is extraordinary and there is no other country in the world that they know of which would have the same love for for literature the greatest Monument of Persian epic poetry is fer doi's Masterpiece the shaame or book of Kings comparable to Homer zad a thousand years after its creation the shaim is still easily understood by the Persian speaking general public when I was young and I was a Classics major at the time I loved Homer I went to a museum and I saw the illuminations from the Shak and decided any text that generated such gorgeous illuminations had to be read in the middle which is why I've given my life to reading the [Music] [Applause] sh sophistication and Sublimity finds no limit in the Iranian miniature paintings which usually Adorn the dazzling man us cripts of Iranian poetry when one reads a page or two of nazami he immediately feels an inclination for painting since nazami has an extraordinary talent for storytelling and Imagination in his Works color movement and story are all [Music] visualized in fact in all four essential features of the art of the book calligraphy bookbinding illumination and illustration the Iranian artists reached the peak of perfection in the art of the books there's a very uh precise Construction in the beginning you [Music] see and in the ornamentation you have a very solid uh preparation of geometrical design [Music] selection of the style of calligraphy and the type of pen itself for each text was an art in [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] itself another interesting ing art was Iranian book binding that was copied even in [Music] Europe certain Renaissance Italian bookbinding done in Venice was in fact copied from the method prevalent in Iran and it's even possible to say that the bookbinder himself was from the city of tarre in Iran this is one of the most Exquisite methods in the West up to the present day Persian mystical poetry reached its Pinnacle in the works of Jalal Adin RI ri's considerable intellectual and poetic skills infused his poetry with delight ecstasy and spiritual zest his greatest work is known as the masar he was a person who was a great scholar and was on with all the streams of Islamic thought before him flow into the mavi but transformed [Music] mystically M Jal was also given by God The Incredible Gift of appreciating every form of beauty as a beauty of God the famous Hadith of the [Music] prophet Jamal that is God is beautiful and who loves beauty marks the whole being of JAL when we think of the most popular moralist in Persian literature sadii comes to mind he writes the sons of Adam are the limbs of one body created of one Essence when time pained one limb the others can find no peace thou who Hast no sympathy for the Troubles of others art Unworthy of the name [Music] [Applause] human from India to the Balkans The Poetry of halfz the story of love beauty and unselfishness enjoyed great popularity sh harz is the prince of Persian lyric poetry he believed that man's selfishness is responsible for all his sufferings thus egoism is the bondage from which one has to be liberated what halfz saw in his days was selfishness misery war and bloodshed yet like Alchemy he transformed these inputs into golden Melodies and spiritual taverns of celestial wine be a passionate Pilgrim of the pass of love and behold what blessings shall come thy way in this journey [Music] the calm and prosperity which provided the fertile ground for the development of such works of art was abruptly shaken by the brutal forces of Jenis Khan known as the Mongols followed by tamarlane in the 13th and 14th century just like the strong winds from the East two invasions almost destroyed the nation but like a cypress tree which bends to the ground in the wind and then returns so did Iran and its culture when you look at history of Iran and suddenly you realized that constantly there were Invaders coming from the West it was Alexander the Great and the Arabs from the East it it were the Turks and the mongal you realize that Iran shouldn't have existed on the map of history for centuries for Millennia it should have been wiped out completely because it is on the crossroad of all the civilizations and the battlefield for many army but Iran is still alive in kicking and well how is it [Music] possible all those Invaders who came on the Iranian Plateau they were so attracted to Iranian way of life to Iranian civilization to beauty of of Music the beauty of poetry a beauty of miniature the beauty of Persian Cuisine that within a very short period they tried they wanted to become Iranian Persians as these coins Testify the Mongols gradually turned to Islam which became the official religion of their ruling Dynasty known as the [Music] ilids they like the seljuks found out that they cannot rule without the help of Iranian ministers or [Music] viers the Northwestern Iranian city of tab was chosen as was their Capital Marco Polo who had visited tab at that time thus describes it a great City surrounded by beautiful and pleasant Gardens it is excellently situated so that goods are brought to hear from many regions Latin Merchants especially genoes go there to buy the goods that come from foreign lands here the famous Iranian visier Rashid Udin hamadani created an entire suburb called rabi rashidi employing within it Scholars doctors and [Music] Craftsmen Rashid ud's Foundation act for this city of science reveals that it was well planned and included 24 Caravan serai Orin 1500 shops 30,000 houses and textile and paper manufacturing [Music] workshops a special Zone was allotted to housing scientists and Physicians invited from across the world to work at rabi rashidi's International [Music] Hospital beginning in the 13th century colorful tile decoration becomes very prominent in the decoration of palaces in Iran it becomes kind of a decorative sheath for the interior of buildings this could be seen at sulan the Landmark of the new Ilan King Sultan muhammed's capital City now in ruins it might have looked like this when it was [Music] intact perhaps the boldest innovation of this building is the Corona of eight [Music] minettes Andre godal th described it the Blue Dome Vivid and gleaming with its brilliant crown of minettes seems to float in the sky here is a dome with a span of 80 ft built solely of bricks which stands simply by virtue of a perfectly conceived and constructed profile according to Studies by an Italian team headed by Professor Pierro San paesi from the University of Florence the plan and structure of the great Dome at suan has had a direct impact on the design and construction of the Church of Santa Maria Del fiori in the City of Florence after the second wave of invasion by Taman and the power struggle which followed by his successors the country was divided between different Sultans and Petty [Music] Kings it was now the right time for the emergence of a unified [Music] Iran [Music] at the beginning of the 16th century the semi-nomadic turkman Shia tribes of Anatolia and Northwestern Iran with their charismatic leader Ismael the safavid gradually gained control over [Music] Iran subsequently the extraordinary Revival of Iranian civilization took shape and an invigorating culture flourished the most distinguished of the safavid rulers was shaas who came to the throne in 1587 during his rule an Englishman Sir Robert Shirley trained the safid Army in the use of artillery with this new Force sha abas drove back the USCS in the Northeast and the Ottomans in the Northwest the safavid rule was manifested by two important developments first the reemergence of a nation state as the core of an Empire second the consolidation of shi Islam as the national religion of the country [Music] neither sunnism nor shiism was invented by the Persians as some orientalists have claimed they're already to be seen even in the Liv of the Prophet when the prophet himself refer to certain people as Al there were people whom the prophet recognized as sort of the party of Ali even during his own lifetime certain places like the city of K like sabar places are from the very beginning centers of shiism and especially when the a bit many of them migrated to Iran as a result of the persecutions under the omay in Iraq and also the early Abasi period of course culminating with the Journey of the E sh IM IM Alam toan where he's now buried [Music] for political and economic considerations sha abas relocated his capital from kazvin to Isfahan in the heartland of the Iranian plateau and by the Zander rud or the lifegiving river [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] la I'm always struck when I go to esphahan by a sense of the magic of the [Music] place I think it's an architecture that has a wonderful capacity for theatricality for orchestrating climaxes think of these huge surfaces which are smoothed out so that they can act as picture galleries for separate panels of tile decoration you are meant to look at that to walk from panel to panel to drink them in to contemplate them I think that's the great strength of saite [Music] architecture under the safavids the textile industry flourished and became a key factor in establishing economic prosperity [Music] the paintings on the chahil suun or 40 columns Pavilion not only depict the musical instruments of the period they also serve as a reference to the clothing and textiles of the era sabatha textiles are one of the truly great developments in Iranian art over the centuries and and we are talking about of course an art tradition of extraordinary ambition and achievement over Millennia not just a few centuries but over Millennia so it's something that we we have to take I think a great humility when we when we look at the accomplishments of this artistic [Music] tradition the silk trade was boosted by The Armenian Craftsman and Merchants transferred from julfa in aaban to a suburb of Isfahan named the new [Music] Jula relative religious tolerance especially for Christians was a feature of the safavid rule accordingly during the reign of the safavid Kings 14 churches including the famous van Cathedral were built in Isfahan this was accentuated in Jean Shan's [Music] writings shardan who was in Iran from the 1660s analyzed everything very carefully at that time Europe was witnessing a longstanding religious Strife among Catholics and Protestants and since shardai himself was a Protestant one major Topic in his book of travels was freedom of religion which he'd found in Iran of the safavid era and the root and origin of the idea of religious tolerance in 18th century France was in fact inspired by Shard DA's book of [Music] travels following the footsteps of Cyrus the Great sha abas devised the chabak [Music] prominade this 4 km long public park the longest in Iranian architectural history with sequences of gardens Monumental balconies and a canal at the center for conducting water through through ornamented pools overwhelmed [Music] everyone at the very end of the 17th century the Iranian artists and Craftsmen succeeded in reestablishing Iran's longlasting tradition with beautification of the surrounding [Music] World in terms of Shades I would say without hesitating that no country in the world has anything like remotely the diversity and number of shapes that were created in the Iranian World from 2000 BC down to the 19th century and you can see how they develop [Music] [Music] continuously [Music] the creators of this Illuminating array of beauty are amongst the world's greatest artists who splendidly guide us towards the source of all Beauty and in the words of roomi toward that land of or that land of Peace where questioning cease [Music] my soul turned its face to that happy place the land of Peace where questionings cease the mystery that till now from me a thousand veils concealed my soul [Music] revealed [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause]