Shah Abbas: The Remaking of Iran at the British Museum

[TomServo]

Anyone think the exhibition mentions that the Armenians were deported from Nakhichevan?

Isfahan: the new capital
Shah ʿAbbas made Isfahan his new capital in 1598 and it became his main administrative city and the seat of his power. He completed an ambitious building programme, including the construction of a royal palace and his personal mosque (named after his father-in-law and spiritual advisor Shaykh Lutf Allah) as well as new quarters for the Safavid elite and the Armenian merchant class which drove Iran’s international silk trade. It was also the site of the royal artists’ workshop, led by the famous calligrapher Ali Riza ʿAbbasi.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/future_exhibitions/shah_abbas.aspx

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Shah Abbas: The Remaking of Iran at the British Museum

There was a discussion about the exhibition in Newsnight Review, in which it was pointed out that it did not mention this, and that the exhibition actually claimed that Abbas was very tolerant to minority groups, especially Armenians. "Deporting people from one place to another doesn't sound particularly tolerant", commented one of the reviewers! The opinion was that the exhibition contained a lot of distortions and Iranian propaganda, but the exhibits themselves were well worth seeing.
It reminds me of the "The Turks" exhibition that the Royal Academy held a few years ago - only in that case the propaganda didn't extend to the exhibition catalogue.

[Eddo211]

Re: Shah Abbas: The Remaking of Iran at the British Museum

Anyone think the exhibition mentions that the Armenians were deported from Nakhichevan?

Isfahan: the new capital
Shah ʿAbbas made Isfahan his new capital in 1598 and it became his main administrative city and the seat of his power. He completed an ambitious building programme, including the construction of a royal palace and his personal mosque (named after his father-in-law and spiritual advisor Shaykh Lutf Allah) as well as new quarters for the Safavid elite and the Armenian merchant class which drove Iran’s international silk trade. It was also the site of the royal artists’ workshop, led by the famous calligrapher Ali Riza ʿAbbasi.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_o...hah_abbas.aspx

Born in Tehran I have been to Isfahan several times, it is beautiful ancient city. Shah Abbas liked Armenians. He was also a good King.

[TomServo]

Re: Shah Abbas: The Remaking of Iran at the British Museum

There was a discussion about the exhibition in Newsnight Review, in which it was pointed out that it did not mention this, and that the exhibition actually claimed that Abbas was very tolerant to minority groups, especially Armenians. "Deporting people from one place to another doesn't sound particularly tolerant", commented one of the reviewers! The opinion was that the exhibition contained a lot of distortions and Iranian propaganda, but the exhibits themselves were well worth seeing.
It reminds me of the "The Turks" exhibition that the Royal Academy held a few years ago - only in that case the propaganda didn't extend to the exhibition catalogue.

Gahhh!!!

I love Newsnight Review and watch their archived reviews online, since you have to be in the UK to view their latest broadcast. Though the Shah Abbas exhibition is listed, they have only uploaded their review of The Class so far? Get to it, BBC.

[TomServo]

Re: Shah Abbas: The Remaking of Iran at the British Museum

Wait, I can watch it with Windows Media Player!

The quality is awful, but I can watch it!

[TomServo]

Re: Shah Abbas: The Remaking of Iran at the British Museum

The Art of Museum Diplomacy TIME

The Iran on show is a far cry from the cliched picture of an angry,
anti-U.S. Islamic state with a Holocaust-denying President. Under
Shah 'Abbas, Iran became a center of diplomacy and trade. Glorious
paintings from the early 17th century depict British envoys
who traded gold and silver for silk rugs; other prints capture
negotiations in which Iranians mingle with Uzbeks and Indians. Like
his contemporary Elizabeth I, Shah 'Abbas waged war to defend his
nation's territory. But unlike England, MacGregor says, the Shah's Iran
"accommodated other faiths," as seen by gospels beautifully illustrated
by Armenian Christians who were forcibly resettled in Iran from 1603.

[TomServo]

Re: Shah Abbas: The Remaking of Iran at the British Museum

The remaking of Iran: empire of the senses Telegraph.co.uk

In New Julfa, a suburb south of Isfahan across the Zayandeh river, there is a community of Armenian Christians. Abbas transported thousands of them forcibly from their homes in the original town of Julfa – then perilously close to the Ottoman frontier, now in modern Azerbaijan. It was worth moving the Armenians to Isfahan – and treating them with respect – because of their skills in silk weaving and trading. The silk trade was crucial to the prosperity of Iran.

We had visited the Armenian cathedral before moving on to the bazaar. It is a quite extraordinary transcultural composite in which biblical scenes in a European baroque style are, it seems, just stuck as if in a collage on top of the richly decorated tile work characteristic of 17th-century Isfahan. MacGregor was fascinated by this example of art-history interfusion, delivering an eloquent and impromptu mini-lecture on the spot.

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Shah Abbas: The Remaking of Iran at the British Museum

In New Julfa, a suburb south of Isfahan across the Zayandeh river, there is a community of Armenian Christians. Abbas transported thousands of them forcibly from their homes in the original town of Julfa – then perilously close to the Ottoman frontier, now in modern Azerbaijan. It was worth moving the Armenians to Isfahan – and treating them with respect – because of their skills in silk weaving and trading. The silk trade was crucial to the prosperity of Iran.

Makes it look like Abbas was doing them a favour - evacuating them from a dangerous region. Silence about the burning of Julfa, the thousands who drowned while being forced to cross the river Arax, and the thousands more who died on the way to that new "art-history interfusion".