The country’s biggest cultural complex, covering an area of 3,300 square meters, is to be built in Qom in the vicinity of the holy shrine of Hazrat Masoumeh (SA), the sister of Imam Reza (AS), the eighth Imam of the infallible household of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), said CHN.
The land has been acquired for the purpose and preliminary construction permits have been issued by Qom Municipality.
The complex will be constructed in the holy city’s famous district ’Yakhchal-e Qazi’, which is currently included in Qom’s urban development plan, in cooperation with the city’s Publishers Union and Municipality. The complex will also include a bookshop with an area of 2,000 square meters.
Managing Director of Qom Publishers Cooperative Seyyed Mahmoud Hosseini told CHN that following prolonged efforts, the permit for constructing the biggest cultural complex was issued.
The 11-story complex will include commercial and administrative units, conference halls, prayer room, IT center, he noted.
Commenting on the objectives of the project, he said that given the fact that Qom is forerunner in the field of publishing religious books, the need for organizing the affairs of the sector was felt.
It will also provide easy access to religious books since the complex will bring together some 350-400 top publishers in Qom, he noted.
Information dissemination as well as the other activities to be undertaken by the complex will help promote the culture of book reading, Hosseini said.
The project is estimated to cost 150 billion rials, of which 60 percent will be procured by publishers, he concluded.

Mohammad Reza Shajarian

Veteran vocalist Mohammad Reza Shajarian was awarded a medal engraved with an image of the tomb of the great Iranian poet Molana Jalaleddin Rumi at the closing ceremony to commemorate Turkish scholar Abdulbaki Golpinarli at Tehran University.
According to Fars, Esin Celebi, vice president of the International Molana Foundation and also a descendant of Molana, presented the honor to the maestro after his live performance of Molana’s poems at the event.
Following Celebi’s speech and the narration of a story about a singer who had sung at Molana’s tomb, Shajarian, who was not supposed to sing at the event, went on stage and performed live for a quarter of an hour without the accompaniment of musicians.
Meanwhile, Iranian scholar Tofiq Sobhani was also awarded a plaque of honor for his research works on Molana as well as translations of Golpinarli’s works.
Abdulbaki Golpinarli (1900-82), famous for his knowledge of Persian poetry, has translated the complete works of the Iranian poet and mystic Molana.
The second congress on Abdulbaki Golpinarli will be held in December in Istanbul and Konya, Turkey.

High Council of Cultural Revolution in a session presided by Majlis Speaker Gholamali Haddad Adel has made it obligatory for all universities nationwide to conduct their classes in the Persian language.
According to ILNA, the council’s secretary, Mohammad Reza Mokhber-Dezfuli told reporters on the sidelines of the event that a number of universities which have set up high educational institutes in different parts of the country are duty-bound to teach classes in Persian language. “Persian language is an integral part of our identity, which should be safeguarded,“ he said.
Commenting on foreign students wishing to study at the centers, he said that they should first take a course in Persian language before continuing studies in the courses of their choice.
Mokhber-Dezfuli recalled that Tarbiat Modarres University (Instructor Training University) was established by the council after the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and its articles of association was approved by the council after slight changes to enable it to keep up with the current requirements.
He added that during the session, National Youth Organization’s request for membership of one of its deputies in Women Social Cultural Council was reviewed and approved.
The number of workers to be admitted to the universities was increased to 25 at the request of Labor and Social Affairs Ministry, said Mokhber-Dezfuli.
Exemplary workers can also undertake studies in technical educational and vocational centers, Payam-e Nour University and Scientific and Applied University, he concluded.

Growing interest in book and book reading in Iran has led to the development of libraries to meet the needs of researchers, students and enthusiasts, MNA reported.
Expressing this view, Iran’s Cultural AttachŽ in Spain Seyyed Ahmad Khezri said in a meeting with the director of Biblioteca Nacional de Espana (Spanish national library) Rosa Regˆs PagŽs that Iran National Library, Astan-e Qods Razavi Library, Central Library of Tehran University, Majlis Library and Library of the Center for Islami Encyclopedia are but a few most frequented libraries in the country.
Pointing to the importance of Iran’s National Library, he further said that prior to his visit to the country he met the head of the library who declared his readiness to build up bilateral cooperation.
Khezri said that he would strive to promote cultural exchanges and study avenues for collaboration during his tenure.
He further said that now the grounds are prepared for cooperation between the two countries more than ever and it seems that the two sides can expand exchanges in the fields of technology, information dissemination, maintaining documents and commissioning digital libraries.
The Spanish official, for her part, expressed joy over her visit to Iran and described Iran as a country with rich civilization, culture and history.
“I am ready to conclude accords and take steps to develop cooperation,“ she said.
Spanish national library is ready to make its experiences in the fields of maintaining documents and renovating manuscripts available to Iran, she concluded.

Some artifacts found in Jiroft, Kerman province.

Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization in an attempt to retrieve 18 historical objects unearthed in Jiroft, Kerman province, submitted a letter to the Director General of UNESCO Ko•chiro Matsuura.
Some 18 items belonging to the historical site Jiroft were auctioned illegally by Breckt Gallery in Britain in 2005.
Announcing this, deputy director of the organization’s Legal Department Susan Cheraghchi told CHN that the director general of the organization for legal and estate affairs, Omid Ghanami presented a letter by the head of the entity as well as a report on the steps taken within the framework of UNESCO 1970 Convention by the Iranian agency in the UN cultural body for submission to the official.
She further said that the letter has explained the legal actions taken by Iran to retrieve the items belonging to Jiroft historical site and it has also drawn attention to the membership of Iran and Britain in the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (1970 UNESCO Convention).
According to Cheraghchi, the letter also urged UNESCO to remind the British government of its responsibilities vis-ˆ-vis the convention and the need to return the 18 Iranian objects smuggled out of the country.
The international body is expected to do its best to fulfill Iran’s demand, the letter noted.
Member states of the convention are obliged to act in recovering historical objects which are taken out illegally from the countries of their origin.

Archeologists charting an archeological map of Sistan, Sistan-Baluchestan province, have come across one historical site in every 10 square kilometers in the region.
Director of the Archeology Department of Sistan University and Head of Sistan archeological map project, Reza Mehrafarin told CHN, “Results of the first phase of charting the map in an area of 600 to 700 square kilometers revealed that one historical site must have existed in every 10 square kilometers of the area. Based on this, we expect to identify 1,000 ancient sites by the end of the operations.“
Describing Sistan as one of the significant national archeological sites, he added that the list of all discovered historical sites of Sistan will be registered and forwarded to all development organizations for conducting topographical activities.
A sum of over 700 million rials has so far been allocated for the project which is being undertaken by Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization’s Archeological Research Center and Sistan University.
Mehrafarin further said that geography and cartography students are also participating in the project which will concurrently compile information about urban communities and topography.

An anthology of poems by contemporary Iranian poets Fereidoun Moshiri and Siavash Kasraei will soon be released in English.
According to Fars, Sokhan Publishing House will release a selection of Moshiri’s poems from his anthology ’Eternal Beauty’ translated by Sara Khalili.
The publishing house will also publish a bilingual Persian-English collection of Kasraei’s poems titled ’Siavash’s Blood’, translated by Khalili.
Moshiri who is best known for his poet ’Alley’, has 13 anthologies to his credit, including ’Sin of the Sea’, ’Cloud and Alley’, ’From Peace City’, ’Believe the Spring’, ’Song of that Melancholic Bird’ and ’Moments’.
Kasraei, 69, died in 1995. He composed many poems, namely ’Arash the Archer’, ’Siavash’s Blood’, ’Stone and Dew’, ’America’ and ’Dawn Stars’.