are hosting an exhibit of Iran’s national epic, the Shahnameh.
The exhibit, A Thousand Years of the Persian Book of Kings, will be on display between March 19 and July 3 and features world-renowned collections of manuscripts and miniature paintings from the epic work of the ancient Persian poet Ferdowsi.
With nearly 50,000 verses, the Shahnameh—literally meaning the Book of Kings—recounts a partly mythical, partly historical past of the Iranian people up until the 7th century Arab conquest of Persia. The Shahnameh tells the tales of ancient Persia’s well-known kings and heroes, especially of Rostam, who is known for having fearlessly defended the Persian Empire. The epic, which blends history with myth, also narrates the battle between Good and Evil, and reminds that life is simply transitory.
In addition to featuring paintings and manuscripts from the Shahnameh, the exhibit presents the rare Sasanian collection of the Museum of Islamic Art. The exhibit includes about 50 manuscripts and folios from the Keir Collection, the National Library, and the Museum of Islamic Art as well as medieval ceramics, textiles, metalwork, weapons and artifacts from the Sasanian collection. These artworks are supplemented by loans from the Berlin Museum of Asian Arts, the Berlin Museum of Ethnology and the Deutsche Historische Museum (DHM) and loans from two German private collections.
The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated the year 2010 as the millennium year of the writing of the Shahnameh