Despite Russia and Iran are not neighbors, there are a lot of words that unite these countries:
- barrel – بشکه – бочка
- coat – قفطان – кафтан
- market – بازار – базар
- rusks – سوخاری – сухари
- samovar – سماور – самовар
- sanctions – تحریمها / سانکسیون – санкции
- sofa – تخته – тахта
- suitcase – چمدان – чемодан
- watermelon – اربوز / خربوزه – арбуз
And now there’s one more thing linking us: the [[Russia-Iran Wiki Collaboration]]. The idea is simple — people from both countries team up to create and improve articles about each other’s culture, history, and art. On the Russian side, the project is being carried out by the North-West Russia Wiki-Historians User Group. Iranian culture has found a special place in their hearts. There has long been a debate in Russian about the correct way to say it — “shaverma” (as used in Saint Petersburg) or “shaurma” (as said in Moscow). The fact that Iranians confirm the Saint Petersburg version lays a strong foundation for the collaboration.
During August, contributors from the Russian and Persian Wikipedias dived into this challenge: Russians wrote about Iran, Persians about Russia. Each side had prepared lists of articles beforehand, giving the collaboration a roadmap. The collaboration was originally scheduled for earlier in the summer, before the main vacation month, and could have more than 22 participants, but we had to adjust to the usual regional twists. Not every planned article was written (385 of 1000), but the month produced clear progress and revealed which topics will be most interesting for future work. It’s also fascinating to see what seems more important to people from the other culture, and what seems less so — for example, one can now say that medovukha and kulebyaka are considered more significant than the KV-2 tank or the Domostroy.
The collaboration also took a more visual turn: Iranian-related exhibits in the Hermitage Museum were documented — 500 images from 9 halls, along with several other Iranian artifacts scattered through different halls. Additionally, Iranian art from the collection of the Museum of the East was photographed in a less systematic manner, anyway making a part of Iran’s cultural heritage easier to explore for anyone around the world. 33 of these images were recognized as Quality images. Documenting Iranian art exhibited in the Hermitage is even more valuable than it might seem, since some of the genres on display cannot be seen in Iran itself, and for certain aspects of their own culture, Iranians can only become familiar with them abroad.
Step by step — articles written, images shared, little discoveries made along the way — the Russian and Persian Wikipedias are building bridges across cultures. Who knows what the next month will bring? Maybe a heated debate over shchi versus aush, or discovering an Iranian artifact hiding in a Russian museum hallway. One thing is certain: curiosity and collaboration are leading the way, and there’s plenty more to explore.
Can you help us translate this article?
In order for this article to reach as many people as possible we would like your help. Can you translate this article to get the message out?
Start translation