Iran’s Electronic Library has enrolled members free of charge at the First Digital Media & Multimedia Software Festival which is to end at Tehran’s International Fairground on Monday.
Speaking to IRNA, director of electronic library pavilion at the festival, called on officials from Iran’s National Library and Documents Organization as well as the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry to assist the electronic library, which is the biggest in the world for its large collection of Persian books.
Stating that the library’s website has also been launched, the official said that an online competition has been uploaded for visitors.
The questions of the contest are: ’Whisper to God’, ’Who Am I?’ and ’An Interpretation of Love’.
He added that the respondents will have their entries published on the website along with their names.
Meanwhile, noted author and poet Mostafa Rahmandoust who attended the festival on Saturday, told IRNA that “Most Iranian poets and writers are unfamiliar with computer and the digital world. However, those who use the Internet have done great jobs in writing web pages.“
He added there is a need to provide writers and poets with professional instruction in this field.
“It seems that the digital media have been unable to make use of their capabilities for publicizing the festival,“ Rahmandoust concluded.
The one-week festival ends on May 21.

A historical and research-oriented documentary titled ’100 Years of Baladieh (municipality)’ directed by Ared Attapour is being produced to mark the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Tehran Municipality.
Cultural and Artistic Organization of Tehran Municipality and Tasvir-Shahr Development Institute have jointly invested in the project, IRNA reported.
Attapour said that the filming of the documentary began after two months of research. However, he noted that since the documents were scattered, shooting could only begin once the documents for each section were located and compiled.
Attapour recalled that Tehran City Council appointed the mayor after the victory of the 1906 Constitutional Movement.
“The mayor appointed before that period did not have the sole authority of administering city affairs, but had duties which combined the responsibilities of modern municipalities and those of the police,“ he added.
Commenting on the idea of producing the documentary, Attapour pointed out that studying the development of Tehran Municipality over past 100 years is the main subject of the documenary.

Given that museum pieces belong to all the people irrespective of governments administering such entities, information about artifacts maintained in museums should be freely available to the public.
According to ISNA, head of National Committee of Iranian Museums Seyyed Ahmad Mohit-Tabatabaei, who was speaking at a news conference on the occasion of the World Museum Day (May 18), further said that International Council of Museums (ICOM) has issued guidelines based on which all museums are obliged to place digital information about artifacts at the disposal of the public.
Putting the number of classical museums in Iran at 440, he said, “If we look at museums from a new perspective, we have some 800 museum sites throughout the country.“
Stating that ICOM has 120 members, Mohit-Tabatabaei further said that some 180 real and legal entities are members of the Iranian Museums National Committee. He noted that the committee has tried since last year to admit neighboring countries without national committee of museums as members of the Iranian committee, thus paving the way for their membership in ICOM through Iran.
“Museum is not an enclosed area; rather any venue which introduces some sections of cultural and historical heritage and are visited by the public, are considered museums,“ he said, noting that thus the National Library and other document centers are also museums.

The prehistoric mound ’Ashena’ in Isfahan province which is submerged throughout the year emerges from water only in September when archeologists can conduct studies to unravel the mysteries of this ancient site.
However, since the Archeological Research Center has not approved studies on the mound in the current year, archeologists will miss the opportunity to excavate the historical site, reported CHN.
Head of the first round of excavations at Ashena Mound, Asadollah Mirza Aqajani said that in earlier rounds of studies, porcelains dating back to the late 4000 BC and early 3000 BC were discovered in Ashena Mound.
He pointed out that the remains of an infant from the Iron Age (about 3,000 years ago) were found in the mound which is still well-preserved despite being submerged in water.
Ashena Mound is located 120 km from Chadegan in the course of Zayendehroud River. This ancient mound is 13-meter high and is situated in the rearmost part of the lake created by Zayendehroud Dam. Part of the mound is visible as an island.

Archeological studies at Korbaldasht historical site, Marvdasht, Fars province, have produced considerable results in the restoration of agricultural systems and mechanisms of state support for the sector in different historical eras.
According to ISNA, director of the archeological team for Korbaldasht, Ali Asadi said that studies of the site, which was undertaken with the aim of identifying the economy of the region using archeological evidence from the dams and sites, are complete.
According to him, during archeological studies five main embankments over Kor River were identified, the oldest of which is Amir Embankment which dates back to the Achaemenid era (648-330 BC).
The other embankments are from the Sassanid era (226-650 AD) as well as the pre-Islamic periods.
The findings further reveal that evidence pertaining to the main route from Marvdasht to Shiraz, a vestige of the Achaemenid era, have also been found, he said.
Studies in Korbal were conducted in cooperation with Parse-Pasargad Foundation and Chicago University.

Abbas Kiarostami

A three-minute film by noted Iranian film director Abbas Kiarostami was screened in the non-competition section of the 60th Cannes Film Festival which is currently underway in southern France.
According to ISNA, the organizers of the event had called on 33 distinguished directors worldwide to produce a three-minute film on Cannes Festival on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the prestigious event.
The festival’s website said that the section titled ’Everybody, His/Her Cinema’ will screen the skits as part of a 120-minute film in the non-competition section.
In addition to Kiarostami, leading directors from England, Spain and France also presented films of their own tastes on the subject.
The cast of Kiarostami’s film includes 24 actresses including Shahla Riyahi, Hedieh Tehrani, Niki Karimi, Fatemeh Motamed-Ariya, Baran Kosari and Golshifteh Farahani.
The same source further said that Kiarostami’s film focuses on the innocence of the cinema viewers.
Kiarostami said, “I had not worked with professional actors/actresses earlier and I wanted to employ actresses from different generations in this film.“
In this film, the viewers are the actresses and the film reflects their reactions to a film. One of the main criteria in the selection of actresses for the project is their emotional spirits, he noted.

Dastan Ensemble is the only representative of Iran at the 13th annual World Sacred Music Festival in Fes, Morocco which opens on June 1.
According to Fars, the band will perform works by artists, Hamid Motebassem, Saeed Farajpouri, Hossein Behrouzinia, based on poems by renowned Iranian poets Sa’di, Molana, Araqi and Joshaqani on June 2.
Dastan ensemble has performed a number of concerts in the country as well as in Europe and the US in cooperation with noted vocalists such as Iraj Bastami, Bijan Kamkar and Shahram Nazeri.
The group recently released an album titled ’Unending Sea’, sung by Salar Aqili.
Fes International Festival, which will be held for nine days, is one of the most prestigious festivals of devotional music. It aims to bring together spiritual music from around the world.

Iran's National Museum in Tehran

Significant objects maintained in the storeroom of Iran’s National Museum will go on display on May 28 in the museum as part of programs to mark Cultural Heritage Week.
Announcing this, curator of the museum, Mohammad Reza Kargar told ISNA that the items have not been put on public display before.
He further said that the objects, which include clay statues from Shahdad Desert, Kerman province, belong to pre-historic eras as well as the early Islamic period.
Commenting on the mechanism of repairing Islamic Era Museum, he said that the museum is currently undergoing renovation.
Reconstruction of Islamic Era Museum will continue until the end of the summer and it will be inaugurated in October, he said.
On the project to rebuild Ancient Iran Museum, Kargar said that the plan for restoration of the museum is complete and was published in two Persian and English volumes.
Initially, Islamic Era Museum will be inaugurated and the items maintained in Ancient Iran Museum will be showcased there when it is under reconstruction, he said.
Restoration of the museum will take two years, Kargar concluded.