On April 2, the Eastern Literature Centre of the Russian State Library hosted the opening of the exhibition “The City of Eternal Spring”. The event was dedicated to Nowruz — the Iranian New Year — as well as the images of spring in the Iranian classical literature and in the visual Persian art.
Kazem Jalali (Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Russian Federation), Vadim Duda (director of the Russian State Library), and Hamid Hadavimoghaddam (president of the Ibn Sina Foundation) delivered their speeches during the opening ceremony. Mr. Hadavimoghaddam spoke about the activities of the Ibn Sina foundation in the field of Iranian studies, which includes preparation and publication of Persian language and literature textbooks, translations of modern Iranian fiction and Persian fairy tales. Mr. Duda and Mr. Jalali exchanged gifts.
Daniil Ognev, a member of the Russian State Library’s Central Library, offered the guests an exhibition tour. The works presented included the first editions of Saadi, Nizami, Hafiz, Ferdowsi and other classic poets, as well as images of certain artworks from the world’s major collections, including the Mardjani Foundation.
Marina Reisner, doctor of Philology, professor of Iranian Philology at the Institute of Asian and African studies of the Moscow State University, delivered a lecture on calendar motifs in the Iranian literature.
Irina Abramenko, Iranian Studies professor at the Higher School of Economics, delivered a presentation on the poetic translation of the first hundred ghazals written by Hafiz, which has been recently published with the support of the Ibn Sina Foundation. She spoke about the challenges of translation and recited several ghazals from the book.
“The City of Eternal Spring” exhibition was organized by the Centre of Oriental Literature of the Russian State Library, Ibn Sina Foundation and the Institute of Asian and African Studies of the Lomonosov Moscow State University. It will be open until 30 April 2022.
