One Thousand Nights and One on UNESCO's Cultural Events List This Year - CAIS Archaeological & Cultural Daily News of Iran©

UNESCO is going to mark the current year as the 300th year of the translation of the One Thousand Night and One into French by Antoine Galland and 200th year of its translation into German.

The initiative was approved upon a proposal by France and Germany which put it on the world body's cultural events list.

An official with the Iranian national UNESCO commission Fatemeh Farahani noted the proposal was passed in the last general conference of UNESCO which met in October in Paris.

This means that France and Germany will hold ceremonies this year to mark the event. In the wake of this development, Iran decided to mark the event by holding special ceremonies of its own. The Anthropology Research Center intends to sponsor a conference on the One Thousand Nights and One.

A number of critics note this is not the first times other countries take the initiative with regard to elements and symbols of the Iranian culture.

Last year, Tajikistan proposed commemoration of Zoroaster to UNESCO, a suggestion that was approved.

The last time Iran proposed an event and secured UNESCO's approval was two years ago when it proposed the commemoration of the 150th death anniversary of Amir Kabir, the legendary Iranian statesman.

Copyright © 1998-2008 The Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies (CAIS)