TEHRAN, Nov. 1--Soil experts conducting tests on the foundation of Ancient Iran Museum building have discovered cracks in its cornerstone which need to be repaired immediately to prevent the structure from collapsing, reported CHN.
Experts have warned about a possible emergency situation for the museum.
Arash Milani-Nia, who is in charge of Iran National Museum’s Technical Office, has said that the middle section of the building’s foundation which was damaged several years ago has been repaired.
Tests however indicated that the repair works were not effective and now the foundation is weak and unsafe, he said, adding that measures should be taken to rectify this as soon as possible.
“If we delay action, the museum will be destroyed even without an earthquake taking place,“ he stressed.
The project to make Ancient Iran Museum building quake-resistant was undertaken by a professor of Tehran’s Amir Kabir Polytechnic University three years ago.
Abdelazim Amir Shah-Karami, an engineer of structure and geotechniques had earlier listed some of the risks to the museum as wide temperature differences, quivering of the structure’s roof in process of time and erosion of stones and mortar at lower levels of the structure.
Asked about the possibility of resolving the problem, Milani-Nia said that once necessary funds are made available, they can be overcome.
“The main problem is that the budget for reconstructing the museum has not yet been announced and the Management and Planning Organization does not consider the 10 billion rials credit for the purpose as justifiable,“ he said.
Ancient Iran Museum was inaugurated in 1937 in a ceremony attended by AndrŽ Godare, the French architect of the museum, who said that the museum can meet the needs for a 15-year period and after that two other structures should be constructed.
However, not only no other museum has so far been built but this one is also on the verge of destruction.

TEHRAN, Nov. 1--Scripts for the devotional play ’Tazieh’, which is performed as part of the mourning ceremony to mark the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussein (AS), the third Imam of Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) infallible household, should be simplified for children and young adults.
Expressing this view, director of theatrical plays and Tazieh, Azim Mousavi, said that the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA) or the Ministry of Education should order a new arrangement for Tazieh plays which are comprehensible for the age group, said a press release issued by the IIDCYA.
He proposed the performance of theatrical programs and plays which are easily understandable for children.
Speaking at a panel discussion on the sidelines of the ’Light and Supplications Festival’ organized by the IIDCYA during the lunar fasting month of Ramadan, he said that the job can be funded from the one percent duty which is levied on imported cartoon films for children.
“Tazieh is the only Iranian opera which is compatible with the seven Dastgahs of Persian music and the use of modern music in Tazieh has ended in a failure.
“This indicated that fact that Tazieh has a definite identity and such a drama has proved invincible.“
He said that Tazieh has developed through music and lyrics and its language is placed in the category of quartet poetry and long poems similar to modern poetry.
“Some 90 percent of the poetry used in Tazieh is simple, because, the poets made use of simple poems to narrate the events at Karbala to earn God’s blessings.“
Mousavi said that the reason for applicability of changing Tazieh to poetry comprehensible for children and young adults is may be because Tazieh is just like the style of Bertolt Brecht (German playwright).
Expert of theater Davood Kianian said that there is no distinction in age groups for Tazieh. There are only subjects which concern young adults including the drama featuring Hazrat-e Esmail, sons of Moslem, Qassem and Dareh Al-Sadaf.

TEHRAN, Nov. 1--Residents of Bam, Kerman province, which was hit by a devastating quake in December 2003, are ignoring the scaffolding installed around cultural heritage sites and are building houses in those areas.
According to CHN, sections of the city which were designated as green area by Bam Municipality were sold by landowners who only seek personal gain.
An expert at Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (ICHTO) Shahriar Adl said that construction in certain parts of the city has been banned by Bam Municipality. A section of the city has been declared under the jurisdiction of cultural heritage while other areas have been reserved for green zones.
“However, a landowner ignored the restrictions and the plans for setting up green areas in the city and sold plots of lands to the public thus creating problems for the city authorities.
“Those who have bought the land have engaged in construction activities in the prohibited areas. They have also removed the scaffolding rods on the land and asked workers not to place extra rods.“
ICHTO expressed concern about the current state of affairs in Bam and said that construction works should be undertaken in certain sections of the city earmarked by the authorities as residential areas and there should be no constructions in sections designated for green areas.
The organization called on respective officials to prevent landowners from hindering the comprehensive plan for urban development in the city.

The painting ÔSelf Portrait As A Young ManÕ dates back to 1629

LONDON, Nov. 1--
A £7m Rembrandt painting that is hanging in a Liverpool art gallery may be a fake, an expert has claimed.
Rembrandt expert Professor Ernst van de Wetering said the 1629 painting, ’Self Portrait As A Young Man’, was probably painted by a pupil of the Dutchman.
He said the work, which has hung in Liverpool’s Walker Art Gallery for the past 50 years, is ’primitive’.
A spokesman for the Walker Art Gallery said the professor’s view was an ’opinion amongst many’, BBC reported.
“The Walker Art Gallery’s curators believe that in its present condition it is not feasible to make such a firm judgment on its painting, which is covered in a heavy discolored varnish that obscures both original brushstrokes and old re-touchings, and has probably not been cleaned for at least half-a-century,“ said the spokesman.
“It considers that the view is not a definitive judgment but merely one opinion amongst many that the Walker Art Gallery takes into account when displaying and interpreting its paintings to the public.“
Prof van de Wetering, who is chairman of the Rembrandt Research Program, said it shows ’a fundamentally different pictorial approach from that of Rembrandt’.
He suggested the real artist of the self-portrait was a star pupil of Rembrandt’s, Isack Jouderville.
He said: “The alternative suggestion that there must have been another hand at work, and a rather weak hand at that, is irresistible.“ Making the claims in his book, A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings Volume IV, he also casts doubt on the authenticity of two other paintings by the artist, Young Man in a Turban, and An Old Woman.
Both paintings belong to The Queen’s Collection. Self Portrait As A Young Man shows the artist in a black velvet beret with furred habit, scarf and chain.
It is regarded by many as a classic example of Rembrandt’s use of light and shade.