PF establishes Hafez Centre for Cultural Understanding
The Pathfinder Foundation (PF) recently established the Hafez Centre for Cultural Understanding (HCCU), located at its headquarters at Riverpoint, Peliyagoda.
It was in the context that the relations between Sri Lanka and Iran date back to the pre-islamic era of the Persian Empire.
The centre has been set up with the purpose of studying, creating awareness and promoting cultural understanding between Sri Lanka and Iran by focusing on the historical links, culture, customs and traditions of these two ancient civilisations. The work of the HCCU will be guided by a fivemember Advisory Council consisting of respected experts and academics in the field. The HCCU has been named after the greatest and most revered and quoted Persian poet, Khajeh Shamseddin Mohammad Hafez-e Shirazi, who wrote under the pen name of Hafez. Born in Shiraz in South Central Iran circa 1310 A.C. (712 A.H.), his poetry is characterised by a love of humanity, contempt for hypocrisy and mediocrity and an ability to universalise everyday experience.
The influence of his work has grown over the centuries and extended beyond the borders of the East. His admirers have included several eminent 18th and 19th century poets and writers from the West, including the German poet Goethe, who said of him: ‘Hafiz has no peer!’
The HCCU will be the fourth centre to be established under the PF. The others are the Centre for Indo-lanka Initiatives (CILI), China Sri Lanka Cooperation Studies Centre (CSLCSC) and Law of the Sea Centre.