Iranian cultural program reaches final stop in Russia’s Astrakhan
Iran’s cultural program in Russia reached its final stop in Astrakhan, showcasing traditional music, Iranian heritage, photography, literature and cinema as Tehran and Moscow seek to deepen cultural ties, IRNA reported on Sunday.
The “Days of Iran in Russia” program, running from Sept. 25 to Oct. 6, has brought 168 Iranian artists to Russia across 30 cultural and artistic fields. The number of participants commemorates 168 people killed, mostly schoolchildren, in a US missile strike on an elementary school in Minab, southern Iran, on Feb. 28.
The program opened formally at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre on Sept. 28, with Iran’s Culture Minister Abbas Salehi and Russia’s Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova attending. Iranian artists performed traditional music at the opening ceremony.
After Moscow and St Petersburg, the program moved to Kazan before reaching Astrakhan, its fourth and final host city.
In Astrakhan, Iranian musicians performed traditional pieces at the Astrakhan Philharmonia, drawing an audience that included Kazem Jalali, Iran’s ambassador to Russia, Astrakhan regional officials, Iran’s consul general and local cultural figures.
Astrakhan Vice-Governor Denis Afanasyev underscored the importance of cultural cooperation with Iran, while Jalali said culture and the arts could bring the peoples of Iran and Russia closer together. He also described Astrakhan as an important meeting point for different cultures in Russia.
The program also featured an exhibition of photographs showing Iran’s historical monuments, cultural heritage, natural landscapes, tourist attractions and diverse climate.
A separate exhibition at the Astrakhan Regional Scientific Library displayed Persian literature and Iranian culture, including works by classical and contemporary Iranian writers and poets, Russian translations of Persian works and Persian translations of Russian literature.
One of the exhibition’s notable items was the “Catherine’s Shahnameh”, a Persian-language edition published in St Petersburg in 1793. Displayed alongside Persian and Russian books, it highlighted the long history of literary and cultural exchanges between Iran and Russia.
Ahmad Heydarian, Iran’s consul general in Astrakhan, highlighted the city’s longstanding historical and human links with Iran, pointing to centuries of travel and interaction between Iranians and residents of the region.
Astrakhan’s culture minister highlighted cooperation in cultural exhibitions, cinema and filmmaking and pointed to the Caspian Seasons festival as another channel for cultural exchanges involving Iranian artists and cultural figures.
The wider program also includes 11 Iranian feature films and animations screened in Moscow, Kazan and Astrakhan, alongside music, traditional arts, creative industries and specialist meetings.
The events follow Russia’s cultural week in Iran in June 2025, adding to an ongoing exchange between the cultural institutions of the two countries.