Shahnama Project

Welcome to the Cambridge Shahnama Project website

This site brings you a comprehensive collection of manuscripts of the Shahnama, the Persian epic 'Book of Kings', completed by the poet Firdausi in AD 1010, together with a display of the miniature paintings in each one. There are currently about 1500 manuscripts and single pages recorded, 18,000 records of paintings, and 12,000 images from all over the world, now accessible with a few clicks of a mouse.

It allows you to see and compare all the different depictions of a particular scene in the story, produced over a period of almost 600 years, and to look through the manuscripts held in different collections.

Recent news

Major exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, till 9 January 2011

To mark the millennium of the completion of the poem in AD 1010, the Fitzwilliam Museum presented an exhibition of manuscripts, paintings and other objects associated with the Shahnama. View a virtual exhibition. The catalogue of the exhibition, which is curated by Dr Barbara Brend, is published by I.B. Tauris (London) under the title, 'Epic of the Persian Kings: The Art of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh'.

International conference: The Shahnama Millennium Conference, 13-15 December 2010

The Shahnama Project hosted a conference dedicated to Firdausi's masterpiece, with 20 speakers from across the world addressing different aspects of the poem: as literature, as history, and in the arts of the book, with particular attention paid to its reception both in Iran and across the wider Persian cultural zone (North India, Central Asia and the Caucasus). The conference was held in Clare College, Cambridge. Details are on our events page.

New features and developments

The main new features allow users to search for names and some subjects, and provide a space for storing images and information in a private work space. For this, you need your own password. We welcome any feedback about the site or about any of the information it contains.

This is a result of work supported by a Resource Enhancement grant from the AHRC, 2007-2009. Further enhancements are planned and new data is being added at regular intervals.

From 1 October 2010, the Project is located in the Shahnama Centre, 1 Fitzwilliam Street, Cambridge CB2 1QH, tel: 01223 339851, administered by Dr F. Abdullaeva. The establishment of the Centre and the supporting post of Research Associate has been made possible by grants from the Aga Khan Development Network, the Iran Heritage Foundation and the Isaac Newton Trust. The Centre welcomes visiting scholars and suggestions for future collaborations.

14 November 2010