Tehran, 2 October 2006 (CHN Foreign Desk) -- On the 30th of September this year which marked the anniversary of birthday of the 13th century Persian poet, Rumi, a special program was held on the first day of Iran’s cultural week in Paris. The program was performed in the main hall of UNESCO Headquarter in Paris in commemoration of this great Persian poet and was attended by more than 1500 Iranian and foreign Rumi lovers. Persian traditional music and shows were performed by Iranian groups during the first night named Rumi’s Night which were greatly welcomed by the participants.

A number of high-ranking Iranian officials also attended Rumi’s Night. Iran’s ambassador to France, representatives of Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Iran’s permanent ambassador to UNESCO, Iran’s cultural attaché in France all gave lectures about the personality and life of this great Persian poet.

Jean-Claude Pierre, famous French writer and researcher, also delivered a speech about the spiritual character of Rumi, his poems and his deep influence on Sufism mentality.

Citing Rumi’s poems accompanied by Iranian traditional music performance conducted by Saeid Zehni added to the spiritual atmosphere of the night.

Another program of the night was the theater performance of “Ebullience of Love” written by Mohammad Rahmanian and directed by Hossein Mosafer Astaneh in which some parts of Rumi’s life and his spiritual relations with Shams-e Tabrizi were shown through classical dancing.

Starting from mid September, many programs have been held in commemoration of Rumi across the world. Iranian Studies Research Center of Beijing University, China, held a one day ceremony at this Center on 23rd of September by the effort of Iran’s cultural attaché in Beijing and attendance of more than 40 scholars and experts of Iranian studies and Persian literature and the students of Persian literature of University of Beijing.

In this summit, chairman of the Department of Eastern Literature of University of Beijing talked about the important place of Persian literature, especially influence of Rumi’s poems in eastern literature.

The cultural programs at UNESCO Headquarter in Paris will run for a week during which several traditional programs including music performance, theater shows, painting, etc. will be held.

According to Mahmoud Shoulayi, director of the Office of Education and Art Development of Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, similar programs will also be held in Turkey and Tajikistan to commemorate the Master of Persian Literature.