From November 27 to December 7 2025 a group of eleven Russian research scholars (students, PhD students and PhD scholars) studie at the unique advanced training course “Iran in the XX Century: Art, Philosophy, History”. The program included academic lectures and discovering cultural heritage. It was organized with the assistance of Ibn Sina Foundation.
The city of Qom, a spiritual and scientific center of Iran, became the main platform for those studies. A series of lectures held in the Qom University became the key event of the educational program. Leading Iranian experts delivered their reports in front of Russian collegues. The spectrum of themes was various: from the reflection of society in the Iranian post-recolutionary cinema and coping with contemporary social problems from the perspective of the Islamic jurisprudence to history, architecture and Iranian rituals.
The academic part was combined with a cultural program. The participants visited the sacral complex of Fatima Maasumeh and the famous Ayatollah Marashi Najafi Library with its precious manuscripts. The cultural program also included visiting Kashan known for its traditional architecture and Golestan palace complex in Tehran.
The ancient art of zurkhaneh (“the house of power”), an ancient tradition of physical and spiritual upbringing provided by poetry declaration, made a great impression on the participants.
This course became a part of a long-standing tradition of developing academic collaboration between Russia and Iran. Such initiative s create a firm ground for a stable professional dialogue and mutual understanding between scientific circles of two countries.
