Shiraz celebrates Hafez with nationwide cultural week
Iran launched a nationwide cultural initiative to commemorate the 14th-century poet Hafez, with events spanning from October 10 to 17. The week-long celebration, coinciding with National Hafez Day on October 12, is centered in Shiraz, Hafez’s birthplace, and extends across the country and to Iranian cultural centers abroad.
At the heart of the festivities, the National Library and Archives of Fars (NLAF) unveiled the exhibition ‘Hafez Through Time’ at its southern branch in Shiraz, IRNA reported.
The display, inaugurated on October 11, showcases archival materials dating from the Qajar era to the present, highlighting the poet's enduring legacy.
Marjan Yazdanpanahi, director of the NLAF’s southern center, noted that the exhibition comprises two main sections: Documents detailing the restoration of Hafez’s tomb and related ceremonies, and a selection of rare handwritten manuscripts of his Divan, sourced from the National Library and the Malek Museum.
The exhibition is open daily and will remain accessible to the public until October 16. It coincides with a series of cultural events throughout the week, including puppet opera performances, theatrical productions, and scholarly workshops.
Morteza Ranjbar, head of the Fars Culture and Islamic Guidance Department, emphasized that these activities aim to present Hafez not only as a Shirazi icon but as a shared cultural treasure of Iran.