The Shahnama, also known as ‘The Book of Kings’, is an enormous poetic epic written by Persian poet Firdausi, and is largely acclaimed as the national epic of the Persian speaking world.

“It tells the tale of Persian kings and is an extremely important Islamic heritage,” says Dr Raghu Raj Singh Chauhan, Director, Exhibition and Public Relation, National Museum.

Illustrated copies of the work are a great example of the Persian school of miniature paintings, and the National Museum is in the possession of a few such miniature painting.

To get a measure of the Shahnama’s value consider this: in 2006, a single sheet from the Houghton Shahnama was sold for 904,000 Euros.

The Islamic Arts Museum, which was initially slated for an opening towards the end of 2007, will now open on November 22, 2008.

“We have been in discussion with the Doha museum authorities, and the details for sending the exhibit are yet to be finalised but we know now that it will be sometime in November,” said Dr Chauhan.

Meanwhile, the Shahnama will be just one among the many priceless Islamic artifacts that will be flown to Qatar in November.

The Qatar Museum Authority has tied up with the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Louvre, Egypt’s Museum of Islamic Art, the Royal Collection of Morocco and the Cartier Collection of France to bring to Doha some of the most valuable, world-class exhibitions.