Zoroastrians Abroad
Shahnameh town
In honor of the legendary poet Ferdowsi of Shahnameh fame, his birthplace Dieh Paj in Tous, Khorasan Razavi province was to be turned into Shahnameh town on May 15, 2009, noted a 10-day prior announcement in Iran Daily. May 15 has traditionally been observed as the national day of Ferdowsi.
Besides renovating the place, "several workshops will be set up in Ferdowsi Park where visitors can read his great epic Shahnameh via 3D images,” Ferdowsi Foundation director Mohammad Hossein Tousivand told Mehr News Agency. The project additionally envisaged a sports complex for the town.
Ferdowsi: tributes in Tous
The Foundation established in 2003 was opening a branch in Tous and hoping to start several other branches in other cities with the intention of promoting the ancient roots of Dari Persian. "The Middle Eastern states of Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan were home to the Dari Persian language and were the birthplace of great masters such as Rudaki, Avicenna, Jami, Rumi and Nezami,” Tousiand explained. He further noted that the Foundation has arranged a commemoration ceremony for Ferdowsi in Berlin on September 11-12.
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From the archive