Cultural Event Number One
I had already decided on my first cultural event before I left the Falklands. I knew that there was an exhibition at the British Museum on Shah ‘Abbas, the Shah of Iran in the 17th century who was responsible for modernising the country. I really wanted to go but it closed in June which was originally going to be before I left, but with my decision to leave early I could now go. Yay!
Mum and I went to London on the first Thursday in June. The exhibition was busy but not packed and was fascinating. We spent almost 2 hours there and were ‘museumed-out’ by the end. It’s a while since we went so my memory’s a bit hazy but I remember several stand-out exhibits.
The first was a series of books with exquisite calligraphy. The calligraphy was in several different styles and looked more like works of art than writing. They were poems, discussing love and life and the poetry seemed good although I’m really not any good with poetry.
There were several carpets which were beautifully made and, if I remember correctly, were called something like ‘gold and silver’ carpets because they had ‘gold’ and silver woven into them. The thing I found fascinating about these was that the ‘gold’ was actually silver. The colours weren’t due to the metal but were due to the underlying thread colour. ‘Gold’ was created by thinly covering yellow threads with silver and ‘silver’ was produced by covering white threads with the same metal. The lighting was quite low and the carpets were quite worn so I couldn’t actually see where these threads were supposed to be, but the production process was remarkable all the same.
Another highlight was the crockery. Apparently wealthy people donated gifts to mosques, rather like money is donated today. Gifts often consisted of crockery (I don’t really know why) and people would try to outdo each other. The Shah donated a lot of crockery to some of the important mosques in the country and, surprisingly, a lot of this was foreign. The majority came from China and some was old even in the Shah’s time. Some were, if I remember correctly, about 1,000 years old now. There was a lot of the traditional blue and white plates but there were some massive plates, a good 60 cm (2 foot) plus in diameter. There were a few with dragons on, either white dragons on a blue background or vice versa, which were very striking.
The final thing that I really remember was near the end of the exhibit. One either side of the pathway were massive screens showing a loop of photographs of Iranian mosques. There were benches on either side so you could watch one screen or the other. The photographs showed both the ‘big picture’ and details and were amazing. The beauty of the mosques was something to see and really made me want to visit them to see for myself. Given the political turmoil currently going on in Iran I think I’ll have to wait some time for that particular trip!
We left the exhibit surprisingly exhausted. There was a lot of information to take in and as it was a subject I knew nothing about I read everything. Clearly not much has stuck but it was fascinating at the time. I got a real sense of the time, place and people which is all I really wanted. One thing that struck me was how much drinking took place at the court of the Shah. There were several bowls for holding alcohol and some pictures showing people having a good time, yet it was the Shah who introduced Shia Islam to the country which, it was my understanding, prohibited alcohol. I was interested in the dichotomy and wished a better explanation was provided than the tacit one of ‘one rule for the king, another for everyone else’.
I had been to the museum at Christmas and there was nothing mum particularly wanted to see so we decided to leave. We tried to do some clothes shopping but I couldn’t find anything so we headed home.
Mum and I went to London on the first Thursday in June. The exhibition was busy but not packed and was fascinating. We spent almost 2 hours there and were ‘museumed-out’ by the end. It’s a while since we went so my memory’s a bit hazy but I remember several stand-out exhibits.
The first was a series of books with exquisite calligraphy. The calligraphy was in several different styles and looked more like works of art than writing. They were poems, discussing love and life and the poetry seemed good although I’m really not any good with poetry.
There were several carpets which were beautifully made and, if I remember correctly, were called something like ‘gold and silver’ carpets because they had ‘gold’ and silver woven into them. The thing I found fascinating about these was that the ‘gold’ was actually silver. The colours weren’t due to the metal but were due to the underlying thread colour. ‘Gold’ was created by thinly covering yellow threads with silver and ‘silver’ was produced by covering white threads with the same metal. The lighting was quite low and the carpets were quite worn so I couldn’t actually see where these threads were supposed to be, but the production process was remarkable all the same.
Another highlight was the crockery. Apparently wealthy people donated gifts to mosques, rather like money is donated today. Gifts often consisted of crockery (I don’t really know why) and people would try to outdo each other. The Shah donated a lot of crockery to some of the important mosques in the country and, surprisingly, a lot of this was foreign. The majority came from China and some was old even in the Shah’s time. Some were, if I remember correctly, about 1,000 years old now. There was a lot of the traditional blue and white plates but there were some massive plates, a good 60 cm (2 foot) plus in diameter. There were a few with dragons on, either white dragons on a blue background or vice versa, which were very striking.
The final thing that I really remember was near the end of the exhibit. One either side of the pathway were massive screens showing a loop of photographs of Iranian mosques. There were benches on either side so you could watch one screen or the other. The photographs showed both the ‘big picture’ and details and were amazing. The beauty of the mosques was something to see and really made me want to visit them to see for myself. Given the political turmoil currently going on in Iran I think I’ll have to wait some time for that particular trip!
We left the exhibit surprisingly exhausted. There was a lot of information to take in and as it was a subject I knew nothing about I read everything. Clearly not much has stuck but it was fascinating at the time. I got a real sense of the time, place and people which is all I really wanted. One thing that struck me was how much drinking took place at the court of the Shah. There were several bowls for holding alcohol and some pictures showing people having a good time, yet it was the Shah who introduced Shia Islam to the country which, it was my understanding, prohibited alcohol. I was interested in the dichotomy and wished a better explanation was provided than the tacit one of ‘one rule for the king, another for everyone else’.
I had been to the museum at Christmas and there was nothing mum particularly wanted to see so we decided to leave. We tried to do some clothes shopping but I couldn’t find anything so we headed home.
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