Starting from Isfahan

This annotated map shows some of the key buildings in Safavid Isfahan. Shah Abbas started from the Naqsh-i Jahan Palace, just off Maydan-i Shah, and halted first at Masjid-i Tuqchi, just outside the city walls. [SA1.3]

Shah Abbas

A camel train on the Sang Farsh: Alfons Gabriel, 1933Eating ripe persimmon after the rope expeditionThe 'golden caravanserai' and the large fort at Zafaraniyya: Google Earth imageMe on the Sang Farsh, Shah Abbas' road across 40km of salty mudOne of three tombs for Shah Abbas. This one is in Kashan.The 'golden caravanserai' at ZafaraniyyaThe Sefid ...

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Bakhtiari poetry: an introduction

According to David Lockhart Lorimer, Bakhtiari poetry “reveals the real interests and outlook, and something of the experiences, of the Bakhtiari people”. He is clear that it is “the genuine product of the Bakhtiari mind” and that it owes nothing to any other poetic conventions. Laments are the most common type of poem, with grief …

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The Islamic sales in London

This week, it’s the viewings for the Islamic sales in London. It’s your chance to see high quality Islamic objects up close! If you’re nice, the sales ladies will probably even let you touch! There’s lots – but maybe the highlights for me include: At Sothebys (click here to get to the e-catalogue, then search …

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Bedasht

When I visited Bedasht, I was taken to see a very lovely little namaskhane (literally ‘prayer house’) – with images of Abul Fazl (just in case any of you still think images are taboo in Islam), and with much more space for women than for men. There’s also a mosque – this was the only …

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Happy Iranian (and Kurdish!) New Year

The New Year starts at 05.14 on 20 March in London: click here for the time in other places. To see a very lovely video on the Zoroastrian celebration of New Year, please click here. This video says that the celebration of New Year came even before the time of Zoroaster; and explains how the …

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Stealing the star tiles from Khargird?

I’ve always wanted to know exactly when (and how) the famous star tiles were taken off the Khargird madreseh. You can see some of the tiles in London (in the V&A and also in the British Museum); in the Met in New York; and in the David Museum in Copenhagen. If you have (lots of) …

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The “unfortunate exhibition”?

The 1910 Munich exhibition is renowned for its innovative ‘white wall’ display of Islamic objects, elevating individual pieces from an element within the faux-oriental ‘fairytale’ set-pieces of earlier exhibitions to works of art displayed in a gallery. At the time, though, perhaps this wasn’t so clear. EM Troelenberg suggests that: “[t]he best way to proceed …

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