A Struggle for Freedom – In an unprecedented move, one of the biggest wall painting of Iran, with the subject “the stories of Shahnameh” has been removed overnight in  the city of Mashhad. 

Shahnameh is the national epic of Iran, telling the mythical and historical past of Iran, from the creation of the world until the Islamic conquest of Persia in the 7th century.

part of the 500 meter long “stories of Shahnameh”wall paintings

Ferdowsi, the poet of the Shahnameh

According to ISNA the land administration of Mashhad (Fa. اداره اراضی آستان قدس رضوی) removed the wall paintings over Sunday night and wrote on the walls: “this domain is an endowment of Hazrat-e Reza”! Hazrat-e Reza is the eight of the twelve Imams in the Shia sect of Islam.

Artistic director of the municipality of Mashhad said “these wall paintings were the result of one year project by a group of artists in Mashhad. We invested 450 Million Rial (ca. $45.000) in that project and now they removed it”.

It is nothing new that some authorities of the Islamic Republic have difficulties with the Persian culture and history, or even language. Short after the victory of the Islamic Revolution at 1979, some of the mullahs such as Ayatollah Motahhari, tried to ban Iranians from celebration Iranian ceremonies including nowruz, the Iranian new year, because these are non Islamic ceremonies. Without success, fortunately.

Now, the walls are white, because some idiots hate our culture. Aren’t they Iranians themselves? Isn’t it also their own culture? Somehow?