Cultural assets

Cultural Assets are the substantial or palpable constituents of every realm. These type of assets are always divided into two category of mobile & immobile heritages. immobile heritages includes historical monuments or even huge statue ,in contrast to mobile heritage which includes books ,documents ,mobile artworks, clothing and other artifacts, that are considered essential to conserve for next generations.

Cultural Assets of Iran are considered as one of the richest art heritages and handicrafts in the world history and discerned in many manners.

These type of assets consist of Iranian architecture ,weaving ,enameling ,pottery or calligraphy and etc. In this article we are going to introduce some prominent kinds of mobile or (moveable assets).

Persian Carpet :

Persian carpet or Persian rug is a fundamental part of Persian art & culture .Carpet weaving is unquestionably one of the most well known presentations of Persian culture& related to ancient Persia. The exquisitely intricate patterns and natural dyes have rendered it the most sought after hand-made weave in the world with acknowledgment of dominance in every aspects .

The first written evidence on the existence of Persian carpets is related to Sassanid era(second to sixth AD approx.). When time pass by; the materials of carpets including wool, silk, cotton, would decay; so specialists wouldn’t be able to make any particular useful discoveries during excavations .What has remained from ancient time is nothing more than few pieces of worn out carpets. Carpet weaving still could be seen even in some part of Alamut Valley .

Persian Garden:

Persian Gardens may date back to 4000BC ,decorated pottery of that time presents the typical cross plan of Persian Garden. The outline of Pasargadae, built around 500BC,is worth mentioning .During the reign of Sassanid’s (third to seventh AD), under influence of Zoroastrianism, water in art grew abundantly. This trend manifested itself in garden design ,with greater emphasis in fountain and pond in gardens.

During Arab conquest ,the aesthetic aspect of the garden was increased , overtaking utility ;for instance chahar bagh (چهار باغ),a kind of garden which try to mirror Eden ,with four rivers & four quadrants that represent the world. Sometimes the design extends one axis longer than the cross axis ,and may water channels that run through each of four gardens and then link to a central pool. The invasion of Persia by the Mongols in the thirteen century led to a new emphasis on highly elaborate structure in the garden ,then the Mongol Empire carried Persian garden tradition to other parts of their Empire (especially India) .Babur (founder of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent) initiated the Persian garden to India ,The unkempt Aram Bagh garden in Agra was the first of many Persian gardens he created .The Taj Mahal embodies the Persian concept of and ideal heaven-like garden. Somehow Persian garden tried to implies aesthetic kind of Iranian architectural creativity .

Persian miniature(cultural assets):

The word miniature is came from the Latin word (Minium)which means ‘red lead’.it was used for pigments in the production of artistry works of ancient Romans and middle ages, Nowadays it refer to any small scaled & intricate detailed painting .Aside from Western & Byzantine traditions, there are also Asian tradition in this art form which are ancient and diverse . Persian miniature is one of the earliest artwork which is originated to utilization of image on wall painting and narrative scenes on the pottery in the Sassanid era As well as the book which illustrate Manian period .Mani (c.216-276) the prophet who rebelled against Zoroastrianism, was the professional artist in painting and declared the art of painting as one of his miracle, however after Arab conquest in 641 in early of Islamic period Miniatures Art was underwent a huge change .At the beginning of the 16th century the Safavid dynasty came to power .When king Esmaeil change capital to Tabriz once again ,miniatures art developed a new path toward excellence in quality through variety of colors ,compacts and dynamic figure which Nowadays miniatures art began to derived from that era .

Persian Enameling (cultural assets) :

Enamel is a heat-fused glass paste colored by metal oxides and used to decorate metal surface .The art of (Mina Kari in Farsi ) or Enameling is the decoration of metal and tile with mina glaze .Enamel associated with lapidary ,glass -working and gold-smiting craft and was probably used fundamentally in lieu of precious stone before the 17th century .(cultural assets )

There are many other exemplary cultural assets in all over country that are omitted in this article .For more information about Iranian festivals you could follow this link