02
August 2005
Achaemenid
artefacts selected to be on view in the British
Museum in an exclusive exhibition entitled
“Forgotten Empire: the world of Ancient
Persia” have safely reached their destination.
The exhibition of “Forgotten Empire: the world
of Ancient Persia” is planned to be held from
September the 8th 2005 to January the 8th 2006.
The display includes some 400 items, 80 of which
are the ones on loan from Iran’s National
Museum, and the rest from the collections of the
British Museum and the Louvre.
According to director of Iran’s National Museum,
Mohamamdreza Kargar, the items left Iran yesterday
on an Iran Air flight and based on the report by
the Iranian representative accompanying the
collection, the English scholars start today to
arrange the pieces in the exhibition hall.
The exhibition is to comprehensively introduce one
of the important eras of Iran’s history,
covering diverse issues of the civilization
including art, culture, politics, economics, and
social conditions.
Preparation work for the exhibition started two
years ago. Despite the legal status of director of
Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism
Organization to decide about the transfer of items
out of Iran, disputes and concerns over the
security, safety, and return of the objects
brought the matter under the government rule.
Finally with the government’s consensus, the
transfer of the items selected by a group of
British Museum scholars in a recent trip to Tehran
was finalized.
Simultaneous with the exhibition, a 3-day
conference on the Achaemenid Empire which is to be
attended by scholars of the era from all around
the world is to be held in London.
In return for objects sent to London by Iran, the
British Museum is to loan the world-famous Cyrus
Cylinder, which is regarded the 1st charter of
human rights and some other items of its Persia
collection to Iran’s National Museum for a
2-year period.
