Saadi tomb in Shiraz, Fars province

TEHRAN, April 19--A congress on Fars studies will be held concurrent with birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the renowned Iranian poet Sheikh Saadi in Takht-e Jamshid (Persepolis) on April 21-23.
More than 200 domestic and foreign intellectuals will attend the event in the southern city of Shiraz, ISNA reported.
Secretary of the congress and director of Fars Foundation noted that after the call for papers was announced, more than 200 articles were submitted to the congress secretariat of which 130 were selected for presentation at the event.
Kourosh Kamali noted that a total of 90 articles will be presented at Hafez Complex on April 21-23 and all articles will be published.
“About 10 books on history, literature, art and journalism of Fars province, including a valuable version of Shahnameh by Lotfali Khan Soratgar and Davari Vesal, will be published concurrent with the congress,“ he added.
Elaborating on the peripheral programs of the congress, Kamali asserted that 10 artistic exhibitions, including works by Fars calligraphers, painters, journalists, craftsmen, carpet-weavers and photographers will be held on the sideline of the congress.
Ambassadors of France, Germany, Canada, Tajikistan, Italy, Tunisia, Palestine, Algeria, Kuwait and Bahrain will attend the opening ceremony of the congress on Wednesday.

TEHRAN, April 19--Archeologists engaged in excavations in the Borazjan region of Bushehr province have come across the ruins of the ancient city of Tamouken which dates back to the Achaemenid era, reported CHN.
Tamouken, which has so far remained unidentified, is believed to be the ancient city of Tavaj.
Archeological excavations revealed three palaces of Black Stone, Black Bardak and Charkhab in Bushehr and confirmed the identity of a total of 20 architectural sites and monuments which were found by a leading American expert on ancient calligraphy several decades ago.
Head of Borazjan archeological team, Ehsan Yaghmaie noted that investigations show that the Dashtestan region is in fact the ancient Achaemenid city of Tamouken.
Tamouken, or Toukeh as called by Greeks, is an ancient city belonging to Achaemenid era.
Given its proximity to Fars region, Tamouken was considered a part of that province, Yaghmaie pointed out.

TEHRAN, April 19--Some writers of religious stories for children and young adults are not competent enough to uphold the sense of respect for religious beliefs in their stories, observed a literary critic.
According to ISNA, Shahram Eqbalzadeh quoted a prominent author of religious books Mahmoud Hakimi as saying that some religious stories currently being published have failed to properly convey religious concepts and, unfortunately, give the sense that they are being narrated by a fortune-teller.
“An author, who wants to write religious stories or a religious book, should be updated on the latest knowledge and have a good command of religious concepts. If the religious concepts are not conveyed properly, they may have negative impacts,“ he said.
“Religion inculcates love and affection in mankind. It contributes to training a generation who seek the latest knowledge. It teaches them to develop solidarity and understanding in the community and advises every individual on how to criticize and how to tolerate criticisms, but, some books fall short of conveying the message accurately,“ he said.
He said that the prophets have rewarded their followers with freedom of thought, freedom of expression and dialogue in the field of religious, political and social issues. Unless these principles are observed, the community may take recourse to superstitions, Eqbalzadeh concluded.

TEHRAN, April 19--An expert on carpet at Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization has announced that she is currently working on an encyclopedia of Persian carpets.
Roqaieh Almasi added that it will take at least three years to conduct research and compile the data for the encyclopedia.
Almasi, who is also a member of the board of scientific studies on Persian carpet, said that the encyclopedia will deal with carpet motifs based on geography, demography, tribes, ethnic groups, plans, designs, rivers, mountains, natural features of Azarbaijan province, techniques of carpet weaving and dyeing, said ISNA.
She said that Azarbaijan province is rich in carpet designs citing Afshar, Tekab, Heriss, Bakhshayesh and Tabriz carpets. She added that some local people weave carpets by memorizing the designs without exactly following the models.
She said that the findings of field studies on the history of carpet weaving, geography and culture of Azarbaijan province will also be included in the encyclopedia.
Almasi called on other experts to cooperate with her in compiling carpet encyclopedia.

TEHRAN, April 19--An Iranian feature film ’Desert of Death’ will be reproduced by a Swiss film director, Denis Rabaglia.
Iranian filmmaker Ismael Barari produced the film four years ago in the deserts around Isfahan.
Barari told IRNA that Rabaglia will shoot the film on the snowy mountains of his country.
The ’Desert of Death’ narrates the story of a young boy from rural area who is working on farm. He comes across a woman who wants to hide the body of a person she killed. The film develops the relations between the young boy and the criminal woman.
Barari said that he produced the film in cooperation with a team of non-professional artists and it was screened in 12 international film festivals worldwide with the most recent being the festival in Valladolid, Spain.
He said that the jury of the international festival in Spain and the audience welcomed the film and appreciated its soundtrack and plot.

TEHRAN, April 19--The first seminar of ’National Dress’ which was scheduled to be organized last winter by University Jihad will now be held in late June, director general for cultural studies of University Jihad announced.
Behrouz Rashidi noted that the seminar will be held in a series of sessions and a total of 60 articles on the perspectives of sociology, fabric design and religion have been submitted to the Research Office of Culture and Art Office (affiliated to the University Jihad), CHN reported.
The seminar seeks to find out about the conditions of cloths in Iran from the national, cultural and religious perspectives.
Meanwhile, the biggest Internet site on Iran’s fashion will be launched by ’Shabestan Negar’ information dissemination institute next week.
The main purpose of setting up this site is to create a databank on dress and identifying different parameters affecting cloth production.

TEHRAN, April 19--Photographer Fereydoun Khosravian is planning to compile a collection of photos of the elderly. He told ISNA that he will hold a 10-day photo exhibit depicting the elderly at Niavaran Cultural Complex in late autumn and the proceeds will be donated to the centers caring for them.
He said that he will take the photos objectively portraying the wrinkles on their skins. He said that he will also compile another album about dresses of Iranian women in 12 periods of history to be presented in international photo exhibits.
The collection will include dresses prevalent during the Medes Empire of Iran as well as those from the Achaemenid, Parthian and Qajar eras and in general ranges from three decades before advent of Islam to the Pahlavi era.
Khosravian said that he employed 12 actresses for the photos of dresses from the 12 periods of Iranian history.
The photographer said that he also used the services of dressmakers and designers to recreate dresses from the 12 periods of history.
The dress collection was due to be ready for display by World Museum Day on May 18. The event will be sponsored by Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization.

TEHRAN. April 19--Iranian photographers Reza Moatarian and Abbas Kousari will take part in a photo exhibit at the French Cultural Center in Syria.
According to ISNA, the French Cultural Center organizes photo exhibits annually on a variety of topics.
Moatarian said that he would present 10 photos dealing with ’Impacts of Human Being on Environment’. He said that he took the photos during his visit to Syria and Iraq under US occupation.
Meanwhile, Kousari will present five photos he took from Nantes and other regions in France which he visited three months ago.
The two photojournalists will leave for Syria on May 11.
Photographers from Spain, US, France, Britain, Iran, Syria have been invited to the event by the French Cultural AttachŽ Dolphin Lucas.
The two Iranian photographers had also attended the same exhibit two years ago.