::IRPersia::

The Persian Carpet is an essential part of Persian art and culture. Carpet-weaving is undoubtedly one of the most distinguished manifestations of Persian culture and art, and dates back to ancient Persia.
In 2008, IRAN’s export of hand-woven carpets was $420 million. There is an estimated population of 1.2 million weavers in IRAN producing carpets for domestic markets and international export. In recent times Iranian carpets have come under fierce competition from other countries (China as well and some other countries) producing fakes of the original Iranian designs as well as genuine cheaper substitutes.

Persian Carpets can be divided into three groups:

        1. Farsh or Ghāli (sized anything greater than 6x4 feet)
        2. Ghālicheh (meaning rug, sized 6x4 feet and smaller)
        3. Nomadic carpets known as Kilim, (including Zilu, meaning rough carpet).

To look at a Persian Carpet is to gaze into a world of artistic magnificence nurtured for around 2,600 years. The Iranians were among the first carpet weaver of the ancient civilizations  and, through centuries of creativity and ingenuity building upon the talents of the past, achieved a unique degree of excellence.

The carpet is the finest and most exquisite form of expression and Iranian can find and the best specimens available today rank amongst the highest level of art ever attained by mankind. Even today, with Iranians increasingly being swallowed up in the whirlpool of a fast expanding industrial, urban society, the Persian association with the carpet is as strong as ever.
An Iranian's home is bare and soulless  without Persian Carpet, a reflection on the deep rooted bond between the people and their national art.

To trace the history of the Persian Carpet is to follow a path of cultural growth of the greatest civilization the world has ever known. From being simply articles of need, as pure and simple floor entrance covering to protect the nomadic tribesmen from the cold and damp, the increasing beauty of the carpets found them new owners - kings and nobleman, those who looked for signs of wealth or adornment for fine buildings.

Many people in IRAN have invested their whole wealth in Persian Carpets - often referred to as an Iranian's stocks and shares - and there are underground storage areas in Tehran bazaar that are full of fine specimens, kept as investments by shrewd businessmen. And for many centuries, of course,the Persian Carpet has received international acknowledgment for its artistic splendor. In palaces, famous building, rich homes and museums  throughout the world a Persian Carpet is amongst the most treasured possessions. Thus, today IRAN produces more carpets than all the other carpet making centers of the world put together.

The elements of luxury with which the Persian Carpet is associated today provides a marked contrast with its humble beginning among the nomadic tribes that at one time wandered the great expanse of Persia in  search of their livelihood. Then it was an article of necessity to protect the tribes from the bitterly cold winters of the country. But out of necessity was born art. Through their bright colors and magical designs, the floor and entrance coverings that protected the tribesmen from the ravages of the weather also brought relief to their dour and hardy lives. In those early days the size of the carpet was often small, dependent upon the size of the tents of room in which the people  lived.

The earliest known Persian Carpet was discovered by Russian Professor Rudenko in 1949 during excavations of burial mounds in the Altai Mountains in Siberia. The Carpet had been preserved purely by chance/ soon after it had been placed in the burial mound, grave robbers raided the mound. They ignored the carpet but, threw the opening they left, water poured into the mound and froze, thus protecting the carpet from decay. Called the Pazyryk rug, the carpet has a woolen pile knotted with Chords knot. Its central field is a deep red color and it has two wide borders, one depicting deer and the other Persian horseman. It dates from the fifth century B.C. and is now kept in the Hermitage Museum of Leningrad.

An other rug found in the same area, this time with a Senneh knot, dates to the first century B.C. But, long before that historical records show that the court of Cyrus the Great, who founded the Persian monarchy under Achaemenid Dynasty 2,600 years ago, was bedecked by magnificent carpets. Classical tales recount how wild alexander found carpet of a very fine fabric in Cyrus tomb.

The next great period in the history of Persian Carpets came during the Sasanian dynasty, from the third to the seventh century A.D. By the 6th century Persian Carpets had won international prestige and were being exported to distant lands. And in this time was created one great carpet which was a spectacle of overwhelming splendor. The spring or winter carpet of King Khosrow was made for the huge audience hall of the palace at Ctesiphon and depicted a formal garden. It held a political significance as an indication of the power and there source of the king and its beauty signified the divine role of the king. When the wild and uncivilized arabs defeated the Persians and took Ctesiphon, they carried off the carpet as part of their fabulous booty and it was eventually cut up into small fragments and divided among the victorious soldiers.

Yet its magnificence lived on, inspiring subsequent history, poetry and art and helping to sustain Persian morale for centuries. It also provided a source of inspiration for subsequent carpets but, although many have tried, not even the most skilled have been able to equal its spellbinding design.

Certainly when Mongols invaded the country in the 13th century they found many Persian homes and tents boasting local carpets. But for the next two centuries, the artistic life of the country, including carpet weaving, declined under the influence of the devastation wreaked by the Mongols. But, among his few graces, the conqueror Tamerlane spared artisans from his bloody havoc and had them sent to his palaces in Turkestan. Under his successor art began to flourish once more. His son Shahrokh put a great emphasis on Persian Carpets and outstanding specimens began to appear once more from court subsidized looms. The lavish royal support guaranteed the highest skills and the finest materials money could buy. Once more the art was for a great climax.

The climax came with the Safavid dynasty in the 16th century. When Shah Ismael occupied the throne in 1499 he began laying the foundation for what was to become a national industry that was the envy of surrounding countries. The most famous of the kings of this era, Shah Abbas, more than any one transformed the industry, bringing it from the tents of the wandering nomads into the towns and cities. In Isfahan, which he made his capital, he established a royal carpet factory and hired artisans to prepare designs to be made by master craftsmen. He charged officers of the crown to ensure that the integrity of the industry was maintained and in his period the art of carpet weaving once again achieved monumental proportions. The best known carpets of the period,dated 1539, come from the mosque of Ardebil and, in the opinion many experts, represents the summit of achievements in carpet design. A complex star medallion dominates a rich system of stems and blossoms on a vivid indigo field. The larger of the two stole by Great Pirates [Britains] which is now kept in London's Victoria and Albert Museum while the other can be seen at the Los Angles County Museum. Excellent silk animal rugs were woven in Kashan while, to the north of Isfahan, weavers turned out the distinctive vase carpets. Rugs of great beauty were also woven in Kerman, Yazd, Fars, and Khuzestan.

Shah Abbas also developed the use of gold and silver thread carpet, culminating in the great coronation carpet now held in the Rosenberg Castle, Copenhagen, which has a perfect velvet-like pile and gleaming gold background. (These carpets has stolen again probably during political crisis which always has been made by Great Pirates [Britains] ).

Historical city of Isfahan

These carpets, of course were made for the court and the great nobles, and were protected as well as any golden treasure. They had special custodians and, even when they were brought out for state and other special occasions, were usually covered with another light fabric to protect them from wear. Growing demand from the royal courts of Europe for these gold and silver threaded carpets led to a great export industry. A large number went to Poland after King Sigmund specially send merchants to Persia to acquire them. King Louis XIV of France even sent his own craftsmen to Persia to learn the trade.

As the 17th century wore on there was an increasing demand for luxury and refinement. A set of silk carpets woven to surround the sarcophagus of Shah Abbas II achieved such a rare quality that many mistook them for velvet. But they were the last really high achievement in carpet making from that era in Persian history. Somehow, inspiration steadily began to slacken and, as the court became increasingly improvised, the quality of the craftsmanship began to fall away.

When Shah Abbas' capital city of Isfahan was sacked in 1722 a magnificent period in the history not only of carpet weaving but of art itself came dramatically to an end. The great carpet weaving fell back into the hands of wanderings nomads who had maintained their centuries-old traditions and skills, apart from a few centers, principally Josheghan, Kerman, Mashhad, and Azerbaijan. Even the low school rugs these centers produced were in danger of being ruined as an art by the growing demand from the West in the mid 19th century for quantity at the expense of quality. Cheap, dyes, low quality wool, chemical washing and even meaningless designs supplied by the European importers brought the industry almost to its knees.

After sporadic and largely successful efforts to stop the rot, the government took drastic action and confiscated the carpets in which cheap days and low quality wool had been used. The dye Masters soon came to their senses, with it began a new era of revival for the carpet crafts. The IRAN Carpet Company and a school of design were established in Tehran to restore the integrity of Art and to study and build the great works of the 15th and 16th centuries.

Source: Persia.org

Eternal Persian Gulf

  IRAN on Wednesday strongly defended opening new offices on the Iranian Islands of Persian Gulf and rejected Arab monarchies’ condemnation of the move as interference and unforgivable impudence.i

“All our country’s measures on Bu Musa Island are completely legal and in accordance with IRAN’s rights governing this Iranian islands,” foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said in a statement.i

Ghashghavi was reacting to a statement by the six-nation Persian Gulf Cooperation Council on Tuesday condemning the construction and calling for the closure of the offices on Bu Musa, one of the triple Iranian islands of Persian Gulf.i

IRAN seriously condemned the GCC statement as explicit interference in IRAN’s internal affairs and branded the nonsense emirate’s claims to Bu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunb islands as boring, repetitive, baseless, shameful, unfounded and rejected.i

Tehran’s establishment of a maritime rescue office and a ship registration office on Bu Musa island drew a formal protest from the emirate earlier this month.i

IRAN has already warned many times that any bias, media propaganda or intervention to threat its sovereignty will be responded decisively while the case of territorial integrity is vitally sensitive for Iranian officials and they announced frequently that allow nobody to move toward this redline.i

Iranians believe that taking military options to respond the meditative and devilish statements of Arab governors is a proper choice to end their impertinence, meanwhile the Iranian army commanders never dismissed this option.i

The Persian Gulf and its islands have been under the absolute administration of IRAN from the ancient times, about 5,000 BCE and the ridiculous pretensions by Arab Sheikhdoms are just charged by the Zionist lobbies and a part of anti-Iranian project managed by White House.i

Anyhow, IRAN is reviewing some serious and unveiled options to end this artificial dispute and also looking to expand its constructions, buildings, airports, facilities and financial structures in the Iranian islands of Persian Gulf.

Source:  Hello Yahoo Mail , Arabian Gulf , Arab Gulf

After more than 600 days of planning, filming and post production work, the VISION BEIJING film project held its global premiere on February 24, 2008, in Beijing. The works of five world-famed directors who participated the project were shown to the public, serving as an audio-video record of the rich connotations of Beijing People's Olympics. Meanwhile, this event will provide the world with some insights into Beijing's history and culture in an engrossing and entertaining way.i

The VISION BEIJING project is sponsored by the Information Office of the Beijing Municipal Government, the Beijing Foreign Cultural Exchanges Association and the Beijing Tourism Administration. It was organized by the Beijing Foreign Exchanges Center and Beijing This Month Publications.i

Five of the World's Best Film Directors, Giuseppe Tornatore (Italy), Majid Majidi (IRAN), Patrice Leconte (France), Daryl Goodrich (England) and Andrew Lau Wai-Keung (Hong Kong), were invited to make a short film each about Beijing and its people’s preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games.i

Following their own styles, these five well-known directors told five stories of Beijing in their own ways. These passionate and inspirational films portray the beauty and charm of this ancient yet rapidly modernizing international metropolis and the host of the 2008 Olympics.i

It was also the first time for Majidi to China. After showed around and after visiting Beijing’s World Cultural Heritage sites, the Beijing Urban Planning Exhibition Hall, the Beijing Shichahai Sports School and the Beijing Beihai Kindergarten;i

He said: “He was particularly impressed by the vitality of elder people. This was my first chance to experience Beijing, but I feel very warm here, as our cultures are connected. China is a mysterious and wonderful place, and the Chinese people make this place mysterious and wonderful.”i

"I am most impressed by the middle-aged and retired people, who have great passion for life," he added later.i

Despite his impression for the elderly, Majidi, Oscar-nominated for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film with Children of Heaven in 1998, chose his favorite subject, children.i

In Colors Fly, Majidi focused on children looking forward to the Games.i

Children are typically Majidi’s favorite film actors and subjects. He is always inclined to portray the real lives of common people.i

Majidi is known for his sensitive portrayal of children in films such as Children of Heaven and Color of Paradise.

In his short film, Majidi captures a group of ordinary Beijing students in yellow, blue, green, purple and red clothes on a morning in Beijing. The students are shown riding their bicycles as they bear their colorful wish-filled balloons through crowds, parks, streets, office buildings and public squares. On various plazas around the city, the students let fly their balloons which attract the attention of people in the area. The balloons soar before coalescing into beautiful Olympic rings. The final scene caused thunders of applause at the premiere.i

In Tornatore's first trip to China, the Italian, Academy Award winner for Nuovo Cinema Paradiso in 1999, made Reunion, telling a story about how a group of students and their teacher got back together after 30 years.i

Leconte was a stranger to Beijing too but he soon caught up with his knowledge for the Chinese capital, shooting Beijing -- A Film Impressionistic. Arguably France's best director, Leconte depicted Beijing through various structures including Summer Palace, Olympic venues and modern constructions.

Retired as an athlete, Goodrich found his career in a combination of sport and film-making.
After his success in his promotional film for London's bid for the 2012 Olympics, he joined Vision Beijing.
His five-minute film, entitled Belief, focused on the hard work and thrill of athletic competition.i

Hong Kong director Lau, the only Chinese director invited to the project, showed his love for the Chinese food in Color, Fragrance, and Taste Beijing.
Lau, having a large group of fans in China thanks to his hit works including Storm Riders, Infernal Affairs and Initial D, showed different types of famous Chinese food and depicted relations between food and Chinese culture.i

"I love food so I am the right person to make the film," said Lau half-jokingly. "The only problem is there are too many types of food for me to choose for my film. I just have to show the best of the best."

(Xinhua News Agency February 25, 2008)i

The Organizing Committee also enjoyed the support of society. More than 10 cultural celebrities served as advisors to the project, such as Xu Zhihong, Liu Huan and Ma Wei; many famous actors participated, such as Zhang Yang, Tian Zhuangzhuang and Jiang Wenli. More than 100 sites were used as shooting scenes. Nearly 300 film-makers and more than 1,500 working staff, nearly 30 famous actors and sports stars and more than 2,800 extras were involved in this project.i

After the premiere ceremony, these five films will be shown via CCTV-2, Beijing TV, the national TV stations of IRAN, Italy, France, and on flights of Air France, Air China, in cinemas in Beijing, via Beijing’s city TVs, mobile TVs, subway TVs, city big-screen TVs and during other cultural exchange occasions.i

Hong Kong director Andrew Lau Wai Keung listens to a question during the Vision Beijing news conference in Beijing yesterday.i

The project has showcased five short films by five world famous film directors, namely Lau, Giuseppe Tornatore of Italy, Majid Majidi of IRAN, Patrice Leconte of France, and Daryl Goodrich of England. The short films are about Beijing and the people's preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games.i

These angles are what five internationally renowned directors took when showing to the world what Beijing was liked in preparing for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.i

Andrew Lau (L)

Patrice Leconte

Majid Majidi

Giuseppe Tornatore

Daryl Goodrich

In Leconte's "Beijing-A Film Impressionistic," there is no storyline but like an impressionist painting. There are many images like kites flying in the sky, the Great Wall, the Temple of Heaven, the National Stadium and people performing acrobatics in this impressionistic "painting".     Watch the film

Following his signature theme of children, Majidi has them in his film to send Beijing's best wishes for the Olympics and hopes for a harmonious world. Named "Colors Fly", the short movie features a group of children who fly balloons in the five colors of the Olympic rings. As the children ride the bicycles on the street, they release the balloons with wishes written on them.
Watch the film
[Can also watch Colors Fly Here]

In comparison with Leconte's images, Andrew Lau focuses his camera on enticing food in Beijing. In the Hong Kong's five-minute movie, he shows the delicious buffet of food, including Peking duck in fancy restaurants and snack stands along the street. The shots of the food are enough to make any viewer hungry.     Watch the film

Young athletes are the main theme of Goodrich's film. The British director was inspired by a local youth's three questions about China's role in the modern Olympics. The movie answers the queries by affirming China's status in the sporting world and its big contribution to the Olympics.     Watch the film

Finally, compared with the other four films, Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore's work is a complete story. His film begins with a busy Beijing morning, when a bus driver surnamed Li recognizes an elderly woman doing tai chi in the park is his former teacher. What follows are scenes of people with various occupations, like construction workers, Peking opera singers and tricycle riders. The story follows with Li writing to her former classmates to organize a reunion with their teacher. Watch the filmi

Majid Majidi born 17 April 1959 in Tehran is an internationally and critically acclaimed Iranian film director, film producer, and screenwriter.

Born in an Iranian middle class family, he grew up in Tehran and at the age of 14 he started acting in amateur theater groups. He then studied at the Institute of Dramatic Arts in Tehran.
After the Iranian Revolution in 1979, his interest in cinema brought him to act in various films, most notably Mohsen Makhmalbaf's Boycott in 1985.
As of 2004, Majidi was the only Iranian director who has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film with the film Children of Heaven in 1998. He lost the award to the Italian film Life Is Beautiful by Roberto Benigni.i

 Kashmir Afloat - in production