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Now on bbc news, bbc persian�*s arts reporter, maryam erfan, introduces us to epic iran. it's the biggest exhibition of iranian art and culture in the uk in nearly a century. hundreds of artefacts showcasing one of the world's great civilisations, from 5,000 years ago to the present day. 0ne absolutely spectacular piece is a little gold chariot. and you'll see it consists of a lot of tiny parts which have been soldered together. it's a technological masterpiece. it's hosted by london's victoria and albert museum - the v&a. i'm maryam erfan, and i cover arts for bbc persia. the epic iran exhi...

The v&a collection — one of them with a very beautiful 17th—century pattern of flowering plants. but it doesn't survive as a robe of honour, it survives as a type of orthodox textile that was used by orthodox bishops in the mass. and the other example is a robe which was sent to the v&a by naser al—din shah qajar in 1876. so the ninth section of the exhibition is about the 19th century. we call it "the old and the new" because the 19th century is the tension between the kings who wanted to present themselves as glorious in the style of the iranian monarchs of the past. but they also had ...

And these were commissioned by the victoria and albert museum in the 19th century when it was collecting casts for its very famous cast forum, and so on. and they've never actually been on display before. the third section for which i was responsible is dealing with the parthian and sasanian empires. and what i draw your attention to there is some of the magnificently—decorated silver dishes. many of them show the king hunting — but all of them show some elements of zoroastrian iconography symbolism, because by this time, of course, zoroastrian had become the state religion of iran. there'...

In a very forceful way. you can call it the first great work of persian literature after the islamic conquest, when persian had begun to be written in the arabic alphabet. it preserved much of the vocabulary and grammar of middle persian, which was the language used by the sasanians. the rulers of islamic iran, from the 14th century onwards, became very interested in the shahnameh. it almost became a necessary part of the equipment of a future ruler, to be given a shahnameh, which provided as a model for the kings of the present based on what had happened in the past. and of course, at the sam...

Robes of honour were either sold off because they were so valuable, or they were recycled into other objects. we've isolated two in the v&a collection — one of them with a very beautiful 17th—century pattern of flowering plants. but it doesn't survive as a robe of honour, it survives as a type of orthodox textile that was used by orthodox bishops in the mass. and the other example is a robe which was sent to the v&a by naser al—din shah oajar in 1876. so the ninth section of the exhibition is about the 19th century. we call it "the old and