A number of Persian scholars, poets and officials gathered at the mausoleum of Omar Khayyam (1048-1131) in his homeland of Neyshabur on Friday to celebrate the national day of the great Iranian mathematician, astronomer and poet.
The city also hosted several other meetings, seminars and workshops of photography, calligraphy and sculptures on Khayyam.
The Khayyam Neyshaburi School in his hometown celebrated Khayyam by ringing its bell in honor of the great figure of Persian classical literature on Wednesday.
In addition, Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Abbas Salehi and a number of Iranian and foreign poets attended the closing ceremony of a three-day congress on Ferdowsi and Khayyam in Mashhad on Friday.
Khayyam is chiefly known to English-speaking readers through the translation by the English writer Edward Fitzgerald of a collection of his rubaiyat (quatrains) in the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (1859).
Photo: Mausoleum of Persian mathematician, astronomer and poet Omar Khayyam in Neyshabur (IRNA/Morteza Aminorroayai)
