Epic Iran: what the critics are saying about the V&A’s new exhibition

This is a blockbuster that both dazzles and informs, shedding light on one of the world’s most misunderstood nations

Shirin Aliabadi’s Miss Hybrid #3 (2008)
Shirin Aliabadi’s Miss Hybrid #3 (2008): a ‘revelation’ of a show

This exhibition is nothing if not ambitious, said Jonathan Jones in The Guardian. It aims to explore the cultural history of Iran from 3,000BC to the present day, summarising 5,000 years of civilisation into a single, coherent narrative.

To put it in context, this is a bit like “telling the story of Britain from before Stonehenge to the present and hoping it all connects up somehow”. Yet extraordinarily, it “delivers”. Taking us from the very first civilisations established in the area covering present-day Iran all the way to the 21st century, via the triumphs of the Persian Empire, the conquest of Alexander the Great, the conversion to Islam and the downfall of the last Shah, it is a fast-paced “luxury coach tour through the ages”.

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