Exhibition in Topkapi Palace Istanbul – Ten Thousand Years of Iran’s Civilization
(2 December 2009 - 5 February 2010)
Exhibition in Topkapi Palace Istanbul – Ten Thousand Years of Iran’s Civilization
Project “Ten Thousand Years of Iran's Civilization” is a temporary exhibition to be displayed at Topkapi Palace Museum of which the application to Istanbul ECOC Agency was made by the Topkapi Palace Museum.
2009 is the 50th anniversary of the Turkey-Iranian cultural agreement; therefore it is being celebrated as “Turkey-Iran Culture Year”. This exhibition is arranged as an event of “Turkey-Iran Culture Year” and it aims to help conceive the Iranian civilization as a whole. Additionally the exhibition will expose the cultural interaction between the Turkish and Iranian civilizations. Within the scope of the exhibition, Turkey-Iran relations could be examined with references to political, economic and cultural contexts. This exhibition will reveal especially the collections pertaining to Iranian civilization which have not been exhibited in Turkey before.
The exhibition will feature artifacts from Topkapi Palace Museum and National Museum of Iran as well as collections from Istanbul Archeology Museum, Sadberk Hanim Museum and the Military Museum of Istanbul.
Some of the artifacts to be displayed:
Majmuah
Timuri-Shiraz, dated Muharram 801 (September 1398)
Istanbul Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art, Inventory No: 1950
Tankard
Timuri, circa 1460
Istanbul Topkapi Palace Museum, Inventory No: 2/2149
Crescent Topper
Safavid, 16th-17th Century
Istanbul Topkapi Palace Museum, Inventory No: 1/655
Plate with Hunting Scene
Sassanid, 379-383
National Museum of Iran Inventory No: 1275
Topkapı Palace to host Iranian culture
Iran’s millennia-old history and civilization will be explored in depth in a new exhibition that opens today at İstanbul’s Topkapı Palace, news agencies reported on Monday.
Titled “10,000 Years of Iran’s Civilization and 2,000 Years of Joint Heritage,” the collection will go on view today in the palace’s historic Imperial Stallions section, the Anatolia news agency reported.
The İstanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture agency has announced in a written statement that the exhibition is part of a series of cultural activities held under the title “Year of Turkish-Iranian Culture,” under the auspices of the Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry and the Iranian Presidential Office.
Visitors to the exhibition will be able to see various artifacts portraying Iranian civilization, which have not been exhibited in Turkey before.
The exhibition will showcase the pieces in two separate groupings, divided into a section before Islam and a section after Islam. The collections range from tablets with cuneiform script to the best examples of Islamic calligraphy and from miniatures to handwritten manuscripts of Islam’s holy book. Other objects on view include terracotta ceramics, tiles, ancient sculptures, textiles, coins and wooden and metal artifacts. Around 300 objects will be on display at the exhibition, the agency said.
Topkapı Palace, which served as the official and primary residence of the Ottoman sultans for 400 of their 600-year reign, from 1465 to 1856, is currently one of İstanbul’s major tourist attractions. The palace was used for state events and royal entertainment for the imperial family, and today it is best known for housing a number of holy relics of the Muslim world such as Prophet Muhammad’s cloak and sword..
(http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-194205-topkapi-palace-to-host-iranian-culture.html)
