This week – something special for my Bakhtiari subscribers. An extra welcome to you all! My posting on Bakhtiari poetry recitations mentioned how the people and places in one of the poems on this website (on the battle of the Duraki and Behdarwand) are, according to their translator DLR Lorimer, traceable in Henry Layard’s book …
This week I want to show you the Gonbad-i Bāz – an octagonal tower perched atop a conical mountain near Natanz, and an unusual survival of a non-religious Safavid-era building. Although Kleiss suggests that this domed tower is a royal pavilion for hunting the “numerous deer” in the area; most other writers, and all the …
Can I this week share some 1930s aerial photos of Iran from the Oriental Institute in Chicago – and juxtapose them with the Google Earth satellite images (still aerial of course, just from a little higher up!) that I used when identifying and double-checking locations for the stopping places along the thousand kilometre walk of …
Following on the earlier tales of Musulman and Kafir lions on Bakhtiari land, I want to share an amazing short film. Cheetah were traditionally used in the Safavid era for hunting, as you can see in this (apologies!) very poor quality image of a cheetah being carried on the back of a hunter’s horse (from …
I’ve already talked about the Uzbeks returning a looted diamond to Shah Abbas, and the jewels Abbas gifted to Jahangir. Here’s another posting on jewels – this time in the current Iranian collection. When I visited this several years ago, I was lucky enough to be shown round by the Director himself. Pressing my nose …
This week, you need to click the links to see the pictures, please. Don’t miss out on the 1 metre high golden globe with over 51 thousand gemstones (at the bottom of the page)! I wrote previously about the diamond Shah Abbas recognised when it was returned by refugee Uzbek princes in 1601; and the …
Since Nowruz (Iranian New Year) is on the 21st March, I thought I’d start this new blog off by looking at how Shah Abbas celebrated New Year. Unsurprisingly, with the Shah’s love of illuminations and festivities, there was a generally a sensational party. At first this was in Qazvin, Abbas’ first capital: “Shah Abbas gave …