TEHRAN -- Iran’s programs marking Rumi’s 800th birth anniversary will be brought to a close with the celebration “500 Days with Molana” on December 19th at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall.

Iranian Rumi experts and scholars including Ahmad Jalali (Iran’s former UNESCO ambassador in Paris), Gholamreza Avani (Head of the Wisdom and Philosophy Institute), Reza Purhossein (Manager of Iran’s TV Channel 4) and the eminent painter Aidin Aghdashlu will be making speeches at the event, secretary of the celebration Ali-Asghar Mohammadkhani announced on Sunday.
He went on to say that live music concerts conducted by Hamidreza Nurbakhsh, Alireza Cheraghi, and Behnam Badani have also been organized for the program, adding, “A theater performance about Rumi which was recently staged in Paris, directed by Hossein Mosafer-Astaneh, will also be on the agenda.”
Mohammadkhani remarked that Iran’s programs in commemoration of Rumi had been extensive and had included an International Rumi Congress held in Tehran, 100 student theses written on the subject of Rumi, and over 20 sessions held in Tehran’s Book City attended by Rumi experts.
“There were also many programs on Rumi held internationally in countries such as Germany, France, Australia and Russia,” he stated.
Mohammadkhani also mentioned that Book City is planning to begin sessions focusing on Ferdsowi and the Shahnameh beginning on December 26th to mark the 1100th birth anniversary of Ferdowsi.
The Ferdowsi sessions will continue into the beginning of January 2008, he concluded.