Celebrated in the East around the spring equinox from time immemorial, Nowruz was inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on September 30, 2009. The United Nations General Assembly adopted its resolution at the 64th session on February 23, 2010, declaring International Nowruz Day and recognizing the importance of its history, preserving and promoting its traditions.
The exhibition at the State Museum features a diverse array of works dedicated to Nowruz, the festival marking the beginning of spring and the time for rebirth and renewal that embodies humanistic ideals of peace, openness, and neighborliness.
Paintings, arts and crafts, an ethnographic collection, filigree pieces of jewelry, and photographs offer visitors a unique window into the origin of Nowruz, its rites and customs, give a true sense of modern-day Nowruz festivities, and help to explore much-cherished national gastronomic traditions and a ritual of cooking semeni (a caramel-colored paste made from sprouted wheat and flour), which have been handed down from generation to generation.