Aref-Adib

Mehrnoosh and Ben

Love is here to stay?
so is her Iranian family!

Shirzan

>> Fortune smiles on a shirzan (an Iranian heroine)

From Damascus to Beirut

" Because of the closure of Beirut airport and the destruction of Lebanon's highway system by Israeli bombardment, I returned to Beirut from Damascus by bus on Friday, 18 August, 2006, traveling along Lebanon's byways. The slow journey took us through beautiful villages and small towns that most passengers would not have visited otherwise. Perhaps we need a calamity to remind us of what is often sacrificed in high-speed development".

>> Photo essay: Clear picture of the destruction & Lebanese people's resilience

Nasta'liq

Aref-Adib in Nasta'liq script.

The Nasta'liq script is the predominant style of Persian calligraphy. The inventor was Mir Ali Tabrizi, the most famous calligrapher of the Timurid period (1402?1502).

Wars

From the creators of GUATANEMO:

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Lebanon

I was about four years old in Tehran when my eldest brother went to study at the American University of Beirut. He used to send us postcards rather than long letters. I remember vividly how happy I was when we received these cards.

I particularly loved the Lebanese stamps. They were much more colourful and interesting than the Iranian stamps. I also loved the Lebanese flag with its beautiful Cedar tree. I think Lebanese flag was the first flag that I could recognize as a child.

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Cars & Wars

Last week we went and saw 'Cars'. Just a bit too much of Americana for my taste!

Stop the War

The Stop the War demonstration on Saturday 5 August brought tens of thousands of people onto London's streets. This is unprecedented for a protest called with only one week's notice. The march started at noon at the Speaker's Corner, in Hyde Park, passed by the United States Embassy and Downing Street, and ended in Parliament Square.

The protestors placed children's shoes outside Downing Street and at the Cenotaph.

>> Click here to see photos

The New Gallery

A three-year-long renovation and re-design of the new V&A's Islamic Gallery has created a new home for the collection. The Jameel Gallery houses over 400 objects, including ceramics, textiles, carpets, metalwork, glass and woodwork, which date from the days of the Islamic caliphate of the 8th and 9th centuries to the years preceding the First World War. The area covered stretches from Spain in the west to Uzbekistan and Afghanistan in the east, taking in important centres of artistic production in the Arab lands, Turkey and Iran.

The highlight of the Jameel Gallery is the Ardabil Carpet, the world's oldest dated carpet and one of the largest, most beautiful and historically important in the world. Made in Iran in 1539 the carpet is the centre-piece of the new Gallery, which has been redesigned so that it can be displayed horizontally at floor level, as it would originally have been. Measuring an impressive 10.5m x 5m and described by William Morris as a design of ?singular perfection?, it is a masterpiece of Islamic art.

>> See the photos here