Iran: Seven Faces of a Civilization

  IRAN: seven faces of a civilization is an illuminating documentary with a
companion book in the style of Persepolis Recreated. This documentary
 showcases numerous examples of some 7000 years of Iran’s celebrated
culture, art and architecture.

Chogha Mish
The point of departure is the ancient cities of Chogha Mish and Susa as they were
in late prehistoric times.

Chogha Zanbil
The documentary also contains the reconstruction of Chogha Zanbil, the only
standing ziggurat in Iran, in its glorious times, a magnificent structure similar
to the pyramids, but made of bricks.

Pasargadae

The beautiful  gardens  of  Cyrus  the Great  in Pasargadae  with  a  magnificent 
 irrigation system, still preserved, making it the oldest remains of a royal park
 in the world.

Ctesiphon
The city of Ctesiphon or Ayvan-e Kasra, the magnificent capital of the Sasanian
Empire, with its colossal architecture and the widest unsupported arch ever built
in antiquity.

Sultanieh
The   Sultanieh   architectural   complex   with   its   largest   dome  in  Iran,
reconstructed in minute details, as well as its eight towering minarets, also
reconstructed.

Rashidiyeh
The    complete  reconstruction   of  the 700-year-old    “City of Science”   in
Rashidiyeh, Tabriz. This   sophisticated  city  was built  to house scholars,  and
students with free housing,   restaurants  and  other amenities such as hospital,
parks and libraries, all meticulously reconstructed and teaming with actual and
graphically created people.

Bam

The nostalgic and once magnificent citadel of Bam as it was at the time of its
splendor, centuries before its sad destruction by earthquake.

Seljuq and Safavid Isfahan
We  begin  with the 13th  century  Isfahan  during the  Seljuq  dynasty  with  its
famous Persian bazaars and madressahs. Then a tour de force of the city as laid
out and built to become “Half of the World” by Shah Abbas the Great in the 17th
century with all its magnificent and breath-taking architectures.

Isfahan
The miraculous high level of preservation of Safavid Isfahan naturally makes this
city the zenith of our documentary.

But there is much more in the documentary and the companion book.

For  the  production  of   this   documentary, many neglected achievements and
forgotten treasures of Iranian civilization and culture have been recaptured once
again through cumulative perspective  of  over 70 internationally known scholars
who were personally interviewed throughout the world from 1993 to 2006.

 Some 7000 minutes of footage from various prehistoric and historic sites in Iran,
as well as in many libraries  and  museums  around the world, have been used to
create the present documentary and its companion book.

The data and knowledge  gathered  from  years  of research by our team have
been collated, analyzed and used to create this superb documentary film and
its educational  and  colorful  companion  book  with many overlays that show
the actual and  reconstructed  images  of many  important  and world  famous
monuments.

It is our desire  and  hope  that this  production can serve as an inspiration for
many Iranians throughout the world, as well as to those unfamiliar with Iran’s
cultural  heritage, to  have  an  appreciation  of  the  achievements  of  Iran’s
millennia-old civilization.