Source: CCTV news client
Original title:
Dubai World Expo丨 Iran Pavilion: Into the real version of "One Thousand and One Nights"
Iran was known as Persia in ancient times, and the Persian Empire was the first empire in history to span three continents in Asia, Africa and Europe. When you think of Persia or Iran, what comes to mind? Screw Dai? Miniature painting? Or carpets, saffron? You may remember one of the capital cities often mentioned in One Thousand and One Nights, Shiraz, which is in Iran. It is not only the home of the Persian poet Hafez, but also the site of the World Cultural Heritage Site of Persepolis, also known as the "City of Roses".
According to the designer of the Iranian pavilion, the inspiration for the pavilion came from "One Thousand and One Nights", and each bead on the bead curtain on the outer wall represents the story told by Shanruzod, the daughter of the prime minister in "One Thousand and One Nights", to the Persian king ShanLuyar. Iranian specialty turquoise has a delicate and transparent blue, and the designers have arranged the exhibition hall into a blue square box, hoping that visitors can discover the history and culture of Iran in the box and harvest their own stories.
France has the Palace of Versailles, China has a Soviet-style garden, and Iran has a Persian garden. The terraces, pavilions, walls and sophisticated water flow irrigation system are its important features. The Persian dynasties have almost directly integrated the architectural garden art forms of various ancient civilizations, and have formed a unique and world-famous "Persian Garden" culture, which is composed of 9 gardens distributed in 9 provinces of Iran and was listed as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site in 2011.
This Iranian bird is powerful enough to easily catch elephants and whales. Iranians believe the bird is long-lived and learned. Legend has it that the bird lived for seventeen hundred years and threw itself into flames (like a phoenix). It is believed to purify land and waters and exists as a mediator and messenger between heaven and earth.
Iran's once glorious past: Persepolis
Iran has a civilization history of more than 7,000 years, and in the first square box you can see the cultural heritage of Persepolis, the former capital of the Persian Empire, such as exquisite relief murals, stone pillars of the Apadana Palace, and Cyrus columns inscribed with cuneiform script.
Persepolis, meaning the capital of Persia, was built in 518 BC (equivalent to the Spring and Autumn Warring States period in China) and was a complex of palaces ordered by Darius I. Unfortunately destroyed by Alexander the Great's army, the site is located in present-day Tahit Jamshid, Iran. The Greek historian Plutarch estimated that the treasure that Persepolis once possessed required at least ten thousand pairs of mules and five thousand camels to transport it away.
The bull stone pillar in the center of the exhibition hall is very conspicuous, which is a replica of the columns of the Apadana Palace. Apadana Palace, which means Hall of Seeing, was the place where Darius I, known as the King of Kings, received envoys from the Hajj. Once the Palazzo Apadana is magnificent and spectacular in scale, the palace is supported by 72 such stone pillars, each up to 24 meters high.
This clay column is inscribed in cuneiform with Cyrus the Great's Charter of Human Rights. "I am Cyrus, the king of the world, the great king... When my vast army entered the city of Babylon peacefully, I did not allow anyone to intimidate the children of Babylon; I fought for peace; I abolished slavery; I restored their dilapidated dwellings; I declared that everyone was free to choose their faith; I sought welfare for Babylon; I gave them peace and tranquility; and I encouraged them to be bold. ”
The iranian pavilion spokesman, Haram Shani, who is engaged in tourism promotion work in the country, went out of his way to explain every piece of the pavilion to reporters and regard it as a treasure. He hopes more tourists will come to Iran to see the whole picture of their country, rather than the stereotypes of the present.
Haram Shani said that through the visit, he hopes that everyone can understand the history and culture of Iran. Because many people may not know this history, and their understanding of Iran is not comprehensive.
Condensed weaver's painstaking effort: handmade Persian carpets
Iran is the birthplace of the Persian carpet weaving art, and every Iranian has a love for carpets in his bones. We came to this square box full of carpets, and the intricate and beautiful symmetrical pattern was completely hand-woven, which was very time-consuming and labor-intensive. Weavers need to learn more than a decade to fully master the weaving skills, and handmade carpets made of silk, cotton, wool and natural dyes have been trampled for hundreds of years without bleak color.
A skilled weaver can tie six thousand to ten thousand knots a day, and a one-meter-square carpet has to tie at least a million knots, if not tens of millions of knots. Imagine how much effort it takes for two weavers to work day and night for two years to complete a carpet the size of the picture.
A cultural treasure on the Silk Roads: Persian miniature paintings
Then came to a square box full of paintings, the biggest feature of this kind of Persian miniature painting is the delicacy and delicacy of the details, the most needed is concentration and patience, even a small work takes weeks, even months to complete. Because the seemingly flowing lines are "points" by the painter.
In the 13th century, influenced by Chinese paintings introduced to the local area from the ancient Silk Road, local painters began to integrate Chinese elements into the production of Persian miniature paintings. The patterns of clouds, animals, flowers and so on that we see in the paintings are all derived from ancient Chinese culture. Persian miniature paintings are the best witness to the integration of Chinese and Iranian civilizations, and they are also well-deserved cultural treasures on the Silk Road.
Iranians are accustomed to referring to oil, carpets, black caviar, pistachios and saffron as the "Five Treasures of Iran." Since the US government unilaterally withdrew from the Iranian nuclear agreement in 2018 and fully restarted sanctions against Iran, Iran's economy has suffered a serious blow. Taking advantage of the rare opportunity of the World Expo, Iranian exhibitors will sell the "four treasures" in the hope of establishing trade links with more countries.
The hand-painted Mina plate is one of the most characteristic handicrafts in Iran and can be used as a decoration. Mina means heaven in Ancient Persian.
Saffron is often referred to as the three pistils on the whole flower. More than 95% of the world's saffron is produced in Iran. Due to its extremely high economic value, saffron is also known locally as "red gold".
Iran Pavilion exhibitor Abdul Hussein said that since China and Iran signed a 25-year comprehensive cooperation agreement in March this year, the two countries have become closer and closer in all aspects of cooperation, and hope to do more business with Chinese in the future.
Abdul Hussein said that some businessmen will be interested in Iran's saffron, carpets and handicrafts, and I hope that there will be more economic cooperation between Iran and China in the future.
Producer 丨 Mully
Reporter 丨Jiang Haoyu
Camera 丨 Zhang Yu
Editor-in-charge: Liu Xuanyu
Editor-in-Charge: Wang Tianyue