The Cambridge Shahnama Centre for Persian Studies

There are hundreds of manuscripts of the poem in existence around the world, created over eight centuries, often accompanied by intricate and fabulous illustrations and miniature paintings. The Shahnama Project was set up in 1999 by Charles Melville, Professor of Persian History with the support of the British Academy grant of £500,000, to hold an archive of images and other records of these manuscripts. The Project became the natural basis of the newly established Pembroke Shahnama Centre for Persian Studies which is currently directed by Dr Firuza Abdullaeva, who formerly taught Persian literature at Oxford and St Petersburg. Symbolically, while a Tutorial Fellow at Wadham College, she was also a curator of the College Firdausi Library and initiated the commemoration of the Shahnama’s Millennium in her College by installing a bust of the great poet in the Library. Cambridge was much more attentive to the celebrations of such an important jubilee of Persian culture, marking the event with a major exhibitions at the Fitzwilliam Museum, which was also quite symbolically opened on 11 September 2010, demonstrating that Iran was not the ‘axis of evil’ but the home of a rich and ancient culture.

Pembroke Shahnama Centre for Persian Studies maintains a growing library of reference works on Persian Classical literature and Persian mediaeval and contemporary art, manuscript catalogues and especially Shahnama studies, as well as welcoming visiting scholars to conduct research and deliver lectures.

This incredibly generous donation by Ms Daryabari will help to cover the costs of staffing the Shahnama Centre, support travel costs associated with research, the preparation of publications, organisation of lectures, seminars, art exhibitions dedicated to contemporary interpretation of the ancient epics, and other events, whilst enabling further developing the reference library of scholarship on Persian literary and artistic culture.

Ms Daryabari’s support will also be used to enhance and develop the Shahnama Project website. The Shahnama Project aims to provide a comprehensive collection of the manuscript, together with a display of the art in each one.

The earliest extant copy dates from 1217, without illustrations. There are currently about 1500 manuscripts and single pages available on the current website, ca. 18,000 records of paintings, and ca. 12,000 images from all over the world, now accessible with a few clicks of a mouse. The Project’s website allows scholars to see and compare all the different depictions of about 700 scenes, produced over eight centuries. A more general aim of the Shahnama Project is to encourage interest, analysis and research into the pivotal role this epic plays in Persian culture, as well as provide a roof under which its many related fields of study can be housed and accessed.

Among other projects of the Shahnama Centre is the intention to digitise parts of the E.G. Browne’s archive and make them accessible to scholars, building on a pilot project of digitising Browne’s diaries which has already been carried out by the College Library. Browne is rightly considered to be the founder of Persian Studies in Britain, being the author of the four volume Literary History of Persia, which remains unsurpassed in its sweep.

Professor Melville explained that “this magnificent endowment is important for several reasons. Firstly, it ensures that the Shahnama Project, started in 1999, can continue to develop and extend its ambitious aims to provide a rich and accessible resource for all those interested in Persian miniature painting and the arts of the book, as particularly exemplified in the outstanding tradition of Shahnama manuscript production. For the foreseeable future, the sustainability and growth of this project is assured, with all its potential for educational purposes and fostering awareness of Iran’s cultural heritage and its relevance today.

“In addition, Bita Daryabari’s gift ensures that Pembroke College, in many respects the home of Persian studies in the UK, will be able to foster teaching and research in Persian on a permanent basis; I can be confident that the legacy of E.G. Browne, A.J. Arberry and many others will continue to bear fruit from the vigorous promotion of Persian studies that this allows. Lastly, I hope that it will send a message to everyone concerned about Iran and the vitality and creativity of Iranian civilization across the millennia, that Cambridge means business and that our efforts of many lifetimes command the recognition and support that are essential for the welfare of this drastically under-resourced subject.”