MaulanaNews: The Iranian Poet Mevlana Museum in the central Anatolian city of Konya has been included in the “Virtual Tour of Museums” application initiated by the Culture and Tourism Ministry.

Virtual museum tours can be undertaken on the ministry’s official Web site: www.kultur.gov.tr. The Web site offers a 360 degree panoramic view of some museums and tourists visiting the site can obtain detailed information about the museums they wish to visit.

Thanks to the newly added panoramic tour of the Mevlana Museum, visitors are able to see all the details of the museum, including the ceiling, walls and historical artifacts. They can also learn which part of the museum they are visiting by clicking the screen as a guide accompanies them.

When compared to the same term last year, the number of visitors to the Mevlana Museum increased by 49.6 percent and reached 205,000 during the period of January to March of this year. Provincial Culture and Tourism Director Mustafa Ç?pan said they received positive reactions to the virtual tour application and added, “In this way we have opened the doors of the Mevlana Museum to people all over the world. We expect the number of visitors to be on the rise thanks to this application.”

The other museums that can be visited virtually on the Web site are the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, the Side Museum and Virtual Music Museum, the Aphrodisias Museum, Hagia Sophia, the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology, the Museum of Burdur Archaeology, the Çorum Museum, the Denizli Hierapolis Archaeology Museum, the Divan Literature Museum, the Ephesus Museum, the Gaziantep Museum, the Ertu?rul Gazi Museum, the Göreme Open Air Museum and the Mardin Museum.

Media Left - Kourosh Ziabari: Nowadays, you hear the name of Iran for the most catastrophic reasons in the global media headlines. Nuclear weapons, terrorism, mass destruction, violation of human rights, abduction of freedom activists etc. Such hostile approach for the coverage of Iran news which has been taking by the corporation media since long times ago would easily sequence to an international pessimism toward the people of Iran, the culture of Iran and the history of Iran. That’s why, Iran is somehow interpreted as the most misrepresented, misunderstood country in the world that is being distorted by image despite of its richness of civilization.

Speaking to an American scholar of Persian Culture who has devoted almost 15 years of his lifetime to studying the furthest angels and brinks of Persian culture and Iranian lifestyle is worth reading at least once for it gives a clarified and impartial viewpoint of Iran, what the outgoing President of US calls the “Axis of Evil”.

James Russell is a world-distinguished figure, a well-known name for those interested in Persian culture, Persian civilization and Iranian studies. He is a Professor of Armenian Studies at Harvard University and the a former Associate Professor of Ancient Iranian studies at Columbia University while teaching at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem priorly.

At the time being, Professor James Russell of the Harvard University is writing a book on a medieval Armenian collection of tales whose source he believes to be the Buddhist Lotus Sutra, an important scripture written by and for the Silk Road peoples, most of whom spoke Iranian languages.

I conducted an interview with Prof. James Russell with the aim of learning more about the viewpoints of an American university professor about Iran, the misrepresented and misinterpreted country that you can not discover the truths about, unless you travel and sense it face-to-face.

In the brief debate, we talked about various topics such as the life of Persian poet Mowlana, the customs and rituals of Iranian people, the history of Persian Gulf and the richness of Persian literature.

I invite you to come with us to walk you through the corridors of 7500 years history of Greater Persia; certainly you would learn more things, knowing not before!

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Iran Daily: Following objections by Iranian webloggers to the distortion of the nationality of the great Iranian mystic poet Molana Jalaleddin Rumi by Corbis Website, the world’s largest gallery of digital photos has admitted its mistake.
According to ISNA, Kourosh Ziabari, a weblogger, said in his website www.kourosh.blogfa.com, “We managed to defeat the officials of Corbis Website affiliated to Bill Gates and White House.“
Webloggers’ opposition to the manipulation of history bore fruit within four days.
Molana Jalaleddin Balkhi Khorasani, known as Molavi, whose works are in Persian language is introduced as a Turkish poet by some neighboring countries.
Corbis Website is site of an artistic institute belonging to Bill Gates, former owner of Microsoft and the richest man in 2007.
It is considered an international portal for professional photographers who put their works on show through the site. It is the biggest digital photo gallery in the world with 100 million photos and artworks.
It has representative office in Poland, India, Japan, Hong Kong and France.
Some time ago, Corbis has described Molana as a ’Turkish poet’ in a caption for a picture featuring Turkish prime minister’s wife, Amineh Tayyip Erdogan presenting a volume of Masnavi, Molana’s masterpiece, to Laura Bush, wife of President Bush.
Ziabari further wrote, “We Iranians are lovers of our motherland and will not remain silent in the face of such distortions.“
Such anti-Iran move is nothing new as US National Geographic also recently distorted the name of the Persian Gulf.

 In a ceremony marking the 1150th birth anniversary of Roudaki, Ban ki-moon has hailed the 8th century Iranian poet as a messenger of justice.

Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Mohammad Khazaei, said the purpose of this ceremony was to familiarize other nations of the world with Iran’s rich cultural heritage which is based on compassion and understanding.

“Mutual cultural and religious understanding can bring nations and communities together and inject compassion and mercy (the very basis of all religion especially Islam) into people’s lives” he asserted.

He described Roudaki as a man of wisdom and insight quoting words from the great man himself. “Since the dawn of time, no one who has spent his life pursuing knowledge has ever regretted doing so.”

Khazai honored Roudaki’s revered character by saying that “even after 11 centuries, Roudaki is still a constant reminder of the value of compassion and friendship.”

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who joined UNESCO representatives at the UN headquarters in New York June 19, hailed Roudaki’s works as a possible basis for global cultural unity.

Abdollah Ja’far Ibn Mohammad Roudaki (859-941 AD) composed his poems in the ‘New Persian’ style and though the exact number of poems Roudaki wrote is not known for sure, around 550 verses have been retrieved from ancient sources and cherished by the Iranian people.

In the course of the ceremony UNESCO representatives and cultural figures from Afghanistan and Tajikistan gave speeches about the renowned Iranian poet.

Adapted from: Press TV

Shahram Nazeri is internationally distinguished by the ephitet fans gave him, the “Iranian Pavarotti”, due to his clear, noiseless and tenacious sound.
He was prized the Legionn d’honneur medal by French government and hold up many concerts in Europe and US which concluded global popularity and fame for him.
Shahram Nazeri is the most outstanding singer of Mevlana poems with the assistance of Hafez Nazeri, his son.
They lodge at the pinnacle of “Rumi music ensemble” as the premier of orchestra, getting aid from a large group of musicians and chorus, playing Persian instruments such as Santur, Setar, daf and Gheychak.
As a predominant singer of Persian traditional music who is also known as the originator of the new generation of Iranian national music, he made lots of trips and travels to Konya where the Iranian national poet, Mevlana is buried.
Mevlana known to world as Rumi, is a main rector of Persian poem, revived the Iranian literature by his collection of poetic tales in ethics, morals and daily life (Mathnavi).
There is not remaining any verse or couplet of Mevlana except in Persian, while he confesses frankly that he knows only the translation of word “water” in Turkish language.
The poems of Mevlana, this reputable Iranian poet are mystic, impressive and they become more rapturous when being sung by Shahram Nazeri and heard by those who understand Persian language and understand its delicacies.
“Passion of Rumi” stands in a golden berth among Nazeri’s albums since granted by Boston Globe for the 2007 world top 5 albums ranking.