Archaeological discoveries at Marlik and Cheragh-Ali during the early years of the second half of the twentieth century have furnished new knowledge in support of the fact that the genius of Iranian art evolved as far back as 8000 years ago.

Fine Arts and Painting
Calligraphy, now a highly flourished fine art, became important soon after the Arab conquest. It was during the Islamic Period that, little by little, calligraphy became a major art, as deeply appreciated, under the Timurids and the Safavids (15th-16th centuries) as architecture and miniature to which it is closely linked.
Persian painting (known to the west as the miniature) is deservedly famous throughout the world. Calligraphy, floral motifs, and geometrical compositions were the sources of all decoration, and polychrome was restricted to ceramics. Painting was entirely devoted to the illustration of texts, the Koran, scientific words, epic poems, legends, and panegyrics lauding the achievements of kings or heroes.
During the 19th century, miniature painting fell slightly is disuse when Iranian painting was opened up to western influence. This was also the period during which appeared in Iran naïve moral paintings called coffeehouse painting.


I. Architecture

Pre Islamic

The earliest building material was sun-dried mud brick. The ancient inhabitant of Persia imbued the mountains with great religious symbolism, and structures were built in imitation of mountain, giving rise to the characteristic pyramidal temples called ziggurat. In Cyrus’s time, palaces were ablong in shape, of exquisite proportions, and generally executed in contrasting colors as between say wall surfaces and window emplacements. The buildings of Darius and Xerxes were bigger and better; the result was rather heavy and colorless, depending on elaborate carving applied to doorways, staircases and columns. Alexander the Great conquest (about 330 B.C.) brought a virtual end to the Achaiminian style in Persia. The following relatively dormant period under the Seleucids marked the introduction of Hellenism to Persia. Under the parthians (about 250 B.C. to 224 A.D.), Hellenism and indigenous styles merged, along with some Roman and Byzantine influences, and several characteristically Persian features arose, including the Ivan.
In the Sassanian period (224-642 A.D.), buildings became larger, heavier and more complex. Decoration became more adventurous and more use was made of color, especially in frescoes and mosaics.


Islamic period
The Arab conquest in the 7th century A.D. did not supplant the well-developed Sassanian style, But it did introduce the Islamic elements, which had such a pervasive impact on most persian art forms. Not only did it shape the nature and basic architectural plan of religious buildings but it also defined the type of decoration.

Mosques
The mosque or house of prayer is the outstanding symbol of Islam. It consists of an open central court, sometimes large enough to be planted with trees or flowers, and a large portal or Ivan, on the side facing towards Mecca, which leads into a domed sanctuary. On the other three sides of the court there are arcades and altars; in the center of each side there is a small Ivan.
Minarets
The round minaret originated in north-east Iran and was built of brick, tapering towards the summit. Until at least the thirteenth century, minarets were almost invariably single and placed in the north corner of the mosque. Since the fifteenth century minarets have generally been covered with mosaic or colored tiles, in the taste of the period.

Shrines
In general they are modest, circular, jour-sided or octagonal buildings, surmounted by a cone or dome. Many have charm but no great architectural merit; the famous shrines are among the most splendid, and in some cases the most opulent, buildings in Iran.

Tombs
Secular tombs fall into two clearly marked mausoleum and the tomb tower. Tomb mausoleum is octagonal, rising through squinehes and galleries into a circular dome. Tomb towers, were gaunt, remote, solitary resting places.

Palaces
There are substantial remains of Achaemenian and Sassanian palaces, it is only from Safavid times that royal houses have survived intact.

Bridges
Well-constructed hump-backed bridged of ancient dates are to be found in many parts of the country. The Allah Verdi Khan (1629) and the Khaju (1660) in Isfahan are two of the most remarkable bridges in the world.

Caravansaries
A Caravan in persian means a group of travelers or merchants banded together and organized for mutual assistance and defense while traveling through unsettled or hostile country. Iranian Empire and later governments, religious foundations, merchants’ guilds, as well as the local notables and rulers provided for the establishment of caravansaries, or inns, for the accommodation of travelers along the way. Architecturally, the simple design of Iran’s caravansaries provided security and through the extra story over the arch of the main entrance facing the highroad, control over admissions.

II. Bronzes

It was in Lurestan that the now famous Lurestan bronzes first came to light in the late twenties and early thirties of the 20th century. There are a lot of fine examples of metalwork, especially copper and bronze, to be found in Iran. The earliest object found which can reigned from 2624 to 2603 BC. Trays, dishes, tea services and jewelry are some of the most common objects.


III. Pottery and Glassblowing
The continuing flow of Iranian artistic tradition is nowhere better illustrated than in the field of ceramic art. Originally pottery was painted unglazed, but from the start of the third millennium it began in some places to be glazed. In Iran the art of pottery, the oldest known to man, goes back to 1000 BC. Glazed tile continues to be used until the late 20th century. Iran is one of the few countries in which has four thousand years of tradition behind it.

IV. Carpets and Gilims
It would indeed be hard to dispute the Iranian claim to have produced the most elaborate, the most decorative, the most valuable, and the most superbly assured carpets, which are considered as our cultural exports in the world. The fascinating floral designs of the Persian carpets consistently recall the fabled and wonderful landscapes and versatility of the Persian gardens. The finest carpets came from Tabriz, Kashan, Isfahan and Kerman. Just as beautiful as the carpets, the varieties of Gilims (tribal cotton weave) and summaks are widely woven in great profusion and variety all over Iran. The Gilim weavers produce the attractive geometrical designs from memory, and in exactly the same way as the tapestries of Europe.

V. Music
Iranians are great music lovers, the first references to musicians in Iran are found in Susa, Ilam, in the 27th century B.C. The earliest representation of instruments is on the Elamite relief of Kul-e fer’awn. An engraved bronze cup from Lurestan at the National Museum of Iran, Tehran, portrays a double nay(reed pipes), chang (harp), and Dayereh (tambourine) in a shrine or court processional, as similarly documented in Egypt, Elam, and Babylonia where music involved the utilization lf large orchestral ensembles, the Ashurbanipal reliefs (626 B.C.) in the British Museum show Susan musicians. Other relief sculpture and paintings still extent from early periods depict instruments as they are today, except that some, reliefs near Kermanshah, have gone out of use.

VI. Theater and Cinema
The nearest thing to the theater in Iran used to be the religious re-enactment of holy stories, known as ta’zieh (comparable to the christian passion play); but theater in European style was introduced to Iran only in the second decade of the 20th century, the quick advent of cinema and, later, television in Iran soon after the introduction of theater left little initial opportunity for the latter’s development.