Hafez is known as the symbol of rich Iranian/Islamic culture among the world's thinkers.

Fars Governor General's Office will use 10 billion rials of the fund allotted to unpredicted expenditures in the 2004-05 Budget Law for implementing a comprehensive renovation scheme at the Hafeziyeh Cultural Complex.
Following a proposal made by the Management and Planning Organization, the cabinet ministers agreed in a recent session that the sum be remitted to the office for renovation purposes.
Hafeziyeh is the eternal abode of Iran's most famous poet, Hafez Shirazi. The place is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the city. The 14th-century poet, mystic and philosopher is held in high regard in Persia as is Shakespeare in the English-speaking world.
In related news, IRNA quoted a member of the board of directors of Association of Hafez Devotees as saying that the association has 5,000 members.
"The NGO's activities are aimed at identifying and studying Hafez potery and thoughts," Mostafa Badkoubei stated.
"The head office is in Shiraz, with branches established in Tehran, Shahr-e Kurd, Qom, Kerman, Isfahan, Mashhad and Yasouj."
He said Hafez is known as the symbol of rich Iranian/Islamic culture among the world's thinkers and his poetry can be studied from literary, mystical, religious, historical, sociological and linguistic aspects.
He explained that the NGO's activities fall into elementary, public and specialized categories.

A view of Harounieh Dome in Tous

Director of Tous Cultural Heritage Base, Siavash Saberi, told ISNA that the scheme to restore the historic city of Tous, in Khorasan Razavi, was announced as a national project due to its great significance.
"We are ready to prepare the city for Norouz (new Iranian year) visitors by March 2005 provided the funds are secured in time," he stated.
Saberi explained that given the type and scale of work, the project is considered as the largest scheme ever undertaken by the Iran Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization.
"In excess of 10 billion rials have been injected into the scheme over the past five years," he said, adding that local residents will be relocated within a five-year period.
Director of the relocation project shall be introduced later.

Mirza Taghi Farahani was born in 1807 in Farahan, entitled Atabak-e Azam (The Chief Minister), Amir Nezaam (The Prince of the State), and Amir Kabir (The Great Prince) is a great politician who initiated reforms marking the beginning of modernization in Iran.
At an early age, Mirza Taghi learned to read and write despite his humble origins. Because of his natural talent, he mastered the required knowledge and skills when still very young. He joined the provincial bureaucracy as a scribe and, by his abilities, rapidly advanced within the hierarchy of the administration. In 1829, as a junior member of an Iranian mission to St. Petersburg, he observed the power of Russia, Iran's great neighbor. He concluded that the important and fundamental reforms were needed if Iran was to survive as a sovereign state. As a minister in Azarbaijan, he witnessed the inadequacies of Iranian provincial administration, and during a tenure in Ottoman Turkey, he studied the progress of another Islamic government which had made toward modernization. Upon his return to Iran in 1847, Mirza Taghi was appointed to the court of the crown prince, Nassereddin, in Azarbaijan. With the death of Mohammad Shah in 1848, Mirza Taghi was largely responsible for ensuring the crown prince's succession to the throne. Out of gratitude, the young monarch appointed him as the chief minister and gave him the hand of his own sister in marriage. At this time, Mirza Taghi took the title of Amir Kabir. He gained his premiership at a time when the affairs of the country were completely ruined and its internal system was totally torn down. Iran was virtually bankrupt, its central government was weak, and its provinces were almost autonomous. During the next two-and-a-half years, Amir initiated important reforms in virtually all sectors of society.
Government expenditure was slashed, and a distinction was made between the privy and public purses. The instruments of central administration were overhauled, and Amir assumed responsibility for all areas of the bureaucracy.
Foreign interference in Iran's domestic affairs was curtailed, and foreign trade was encouraged. Public works such as the bazaar in Tehran were undertaken. A new college, the Dar-ol-Fonoun, was established for training a new cadre of administrators and acquainting them with modern techniques. Among his other accomplishments was the foundation of a newspaper called Vaqaye Ettefaqiyeh.
Many exploits in the political affairs as well as in the relationships with the neighboring and other foreign countries were made; he also attended to the order of Iranian Embassies across the world. The ambassadors of great lands in Iran were behaved in a way as expected from the premier of an independent and self-governing government. With a firm, doubtless, strong, and steady will, Amir Kabir continued his reformations, and all alone, resisted the most selfish, tyrannous and despotic king of the Qajarid Dynasty along with his corrupt relatives, courtiers, and flatterers. They regarded Amir as a social upstart and a threat to their interests, and they managed a coalition against him, in which the Queen was active. She convinced the young Shah that Amir wanted to usurp the throne. In October 1851, Shah dismissed him and exiled him to Kashan, where he was murdered on the Shah's orders.

In a bid to promote the culture of reading among local people in the southern resort island of Kish, a book delivery service has been launched.
Residents can order books of their interest and receive them at their residence or workplace all through the week, IRNA reported.
Four out of every 10 people (40 percent of the population) in the island are members of local libraries.
More than 50,000 books have been collected in eight Kish libraries. The per capita share of residents is 2.5 book volumes.
Also, the Kish Qur'an House has 1,500 books on religious and Qur'anic subjects. Two press centers have been set up in crowded Kish locations providing access to newspapers and periodicals as well as press documents.

Chelebi Oghlu tomb in the historic city of Sultaniyeh, Zanjan province. The brick tomb tower dates back to the Ilkhanid era. (IRNA Photo)

The stone of the prayer niche stolen from Touran-Posht Mosque in Yazd four years ago was restored to its original location thanks to endeavors by locals and cultural heritage guards.
As reported by Fars news agency, head of the Yazd Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department, Mohammad Reza Seyyed Hosseini, explained, "The historically significant stone had been robbed in 2000. Following its discovery last month, the relic was reinstalled in its place."
The Touran-Posht village, dating back to the Arcasid era, is located 60 km south of Taft city.
"The script stone, dated 1414, has a dimension of 60x117, and displays verses from the Holy Qur'an," he mentioned.
Touran-Posht Mosque was erected during the Qajarid era and has been registered as a cultural heritage monument.

In recognition of the remarkable achievements made by the immigrants, the French government has decided to establish a museum to showcase the key role played by the communities in developing society throughout French history, IslamOnline.net reported.
The government said that the museum, expected to be inaugurated in mid 2005, is mainly aimed at writing the history of immigrants in France.
The museum is the brainchild of former French prime minister Lionel Jospin.
During his election campaign in 2002, incumbent French President Jacques Chirac and his Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin championed the unique idea.
Established in a Paris suburb on the ruins of a museum of defunct French colonies, the gallery is expected to play a prominent educational, cultural and research role.
It will also play host to a miscellany of exhibitions on the influx of German, Portuguese, Spanish, Arab and Muslim immigrants into the country, which started in 1820.
The museum is equipped with state-of-art audio and visual devices and contains a documentary library and an immigrant archive.
The museum also provides researchers with useful material on how Muslim immigrants enriched French culture.
From this point, it has set up permanent pavilions for the works of prominent Muslim immigrants like Hamza Boubakeur, the father of Dalil Boubakeur, the chairman of the French Council for the Muslim Faith (CFCM).
Hamza Boubakeur was among the first Muslim immigrants who arrived in France early 20th century. He established the Paris mosque in the western European country.
There are some 5-6 million Muslims living in France nowadays with most of them hailing from north African countries and Turkey.
Mass-circulation Le Monde newspaper said on Tuesday that one of every three French was of foreign origin.
The integration of immigrants into French society has been brought to the fore recently.
French intellectuals have called for honoring the immigrant fighters, who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the World Wars I, II. Marking the 60th anniversary of the landing of the allied forces on the southern French mainland between Toulon and Cannes during the World War II, Chirac decorated last year a number of veterans of Moroccan and African origin for helping liberate the homeland from the Nazi.

Research by Marion Mecklenburg from the Smithsonian Institution could lead to better preservation of works of art such as the "Mona Lisa", painted on thin wood panels, artdaily.com reported.
Mecklenburg found that some of the techniques used to preserve paintings could harm them. The "Mona Lisa," was warping at the Louvre. Mecklenburg thinks that this was due to the preservation techniques of battens weakened the painting more than if it is allowed to bend naturally, and could lead to cracking. Meckenburg also attributed the warping to the wall behind the painting.
He stated, "Water condenses behind the painting on the wall. You could spend a million dollars on an air-conditioned space, but it's the wall behind the painting, and unfortunately that wall got cold. When that happens, it's like
hanging a painting on the window, which condenses when it's cold."

I don't remember where I had read that there is no new story to tell. I lit a cigarette and let the paper remain blank. When I wanted to write a new story, I found out I've got nothing new to say.

Azerbaijan National Conservatory will announce a plan of action for 2005-2010 on the occasion of the 120th birth anniversary of outstanding Azerbaijani composer Uzeyir Hajibeyov, www.azertag.com reported
The plan includes publishing Uzeyir Hajibeyov's works, staging his operettas and operas, and holding scholastic-practical conferences.
UNESCO has approved a proposal of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Education to mark the Azerbaijani composer's jubilee and establish the Uzeyir Hajibeyov Scholarship.
Hajibeyov, born in 1885, is remembered and loved as the founder of music composition in Azerbaijan. During the tumultuous years at the beginning of the 20th century, this musical genius refused to turn his back on the music of his youth and his heritage.
Amidst fierce opposition and pressure, he paved the way to introduce Eastern musical elements (folk melodies, modal scales and traditional instruments such as tar, kamancha, zurna) into Western musical styles and forms (chorus, opera, and symphonic music). He died in 1948.