Since 21 March 2000, when it was inaugurated, the Foundation has organized many cultural activities. Some of these major events are listed below:
Inauguration
The Mossadegh Foundation and the library of Iranology were opened to the public on 21 March 2000 after an initial phase of development and installation of the library.
The premises were built in three levels: administration and reception, reading room and conference room.
An opening ceremony was held and several personalities honored us with their presence at the event, which was covered by TV Suisse Romande and a live broadcast on Radio Lac.
The keynote address was delivered by Mr. Jean-Rudolf Christ, a founding member.
2002-2010
2002
- 2001-2002 academic year, the first research was carried out at the library by Geraldine Roh-Merolle for Ms. S. Naef’s seminar.
- 3 September, the First Mossadegh Prize for journalism was awarded to Mr. Serge Michel, a freelance journalist, distinguished by the quality of his many articles on Iran.
2003
- 21 June, the "Qajar Family Day" was held, gathering members of the eponymous dynasty at the Foundation.
- In September a conference by Mr P. Riggenberger on the theme "Persian painting, a vision of paradise and a paradise to the soul" was presented.
2004
- In January, Professor H. Gasche, an archaeologist at the Ghent University, Belgium – who has participated in archaeological researches in Iran and Mesopotamia – gave a lecture on the theme "The relations of the city of Susa with nearby Mesopotamia".
- In March, Mr. R. Moghtadai, an architect, lectured on "Bam, the last citadel in the Iranian desert".
- Thanks to the cooperation of the Cultural Services of the City of Geneva, we participate biannually in the city’s poster campaign. During four weeks, posters of the Foundation are displayed at 45 different locations in Geneva.
- 2003-2004 academic year, five students from the University of Geneva – Martina Fuchs, Mark Gebert, Daniel Hofer, Lorenz Kurtz, and Yvan Schanwecker – prepared a collective work on the "War of Oil in Iran" for a Seminar on the History of Diplomatic and International Relations.
- 28 October, the Second Mossadegh Prize for a book was awarded to American authors, Professor Mark Gasiorowski and Mr. Malcolm Byrne.
2005
- 10 March, Mr. R. Moghtadai, a prominent Iranian architect, gave a lecture on "Persian Gardens" with a presentation of images.
- In May, the Foundation welcomed members of the American Women’s Association in Geneva for a library tour and a roundtable.
2006
- 10 February, conference by Mr Patrick Riggenberger, with image projection, on the subject of ""Persian Art in the Light of the Mystique and Philosophy of Iran" (theme based on the lecturer's book The Christian Art of the Image", about the Middle-Age's icon, stained glass and mosaic artistry, published at Editions "Les deux océans", Paris).
2007
- During 2006 and 2007, the Foundation received a large number of books in donation and also acquired some. Subsequently, it decided not to organize cultural activities and to devote its' human resources to the complete reorganization of the archives.
- From 16 April to 6 May, as part of the city’s cultural event "The Spring in Carouge - The Conference of Birds by Farid-ud-Din Attar", the Foundation participated with a series of public activities, including poetry recitals and theatrical performances by Mr. Jalali, Mr. Mansour Javidan, and Ms. Thommen, in addition to book presentations.
- 24 April, the Foundation organized a tour of the library and a roundtable in the presence of members of the women intercultural exchanges network, (F-Information), the Peacemaker Spiders’ Association and members of the Women's Council of Carouge.
- In September, the Foundation’s collection was enriched by a generous donation of books from the personal library of the late Farrokh Ghaffari.
- 27 October, Professor Charles Henry Fouchécour and Ms. Zahra Shams offered a two-part lecture, "Hafez, the great poet of Iran". Ms. Shams gave a presentation on the perception of Hafez in France, and Mr. Fouchécour presented "The Divan of Hafez", which he has translated in French.
2008
- The Foundation devoted most of its personnel resources registering, classifying and adding the 2007 book donation (from the collection of Farrokh Gaffari) to the expanding library.
- The Foundation had planned to award the Mossadegh Prize for a book. However, even though a selection process was organized, the ceremony was postponed to 2009 given the significant workload implied for the library.
- In November, the Foundation produced a new poster for the Annual Poster Campaign in Geneva. Ms. Mansureh Farman Farmaian, a graphic designer, graciously designed this poster pro bono.
- Various international researchers visited Geneva to consult the archives of our library, as some books cannot be found elsewhere.
2009
- This year we adopted a new statute for the Mossadegh Foundation
- 21 February, the 3rd Mossadegh Prize for a book was awarded to Ms. Florence Hellot-Bellier, a history professor and researcher of the CNRS’ "Iranian and Indian worlds" team.
- 17 December, an open house was organized. After two years of classifying, labeling and shelving the donated books, the public was invited to discover the Foundation’s new layout and additional resources.
2010
- 16 January, the 4th Mossadegh Prize was awarded to Dr. Fakhreddin Azimi, a history professor at the University of Connecticut, United States. In addition, Dr. Azimi held a conference on the history of democracy in Iran.
2010-2018
2011
- During the first six months of the year, we worked on the text, layout and the arrangement of pictures for the book "Mossadegh, pages d’histoire de l'Iran". The book's publication was scheduled for the first half of 2012.
- The Library of the Foundation was enriched with donations of many books in small quantities by different people and also a larger donation of about 180 volumes from a regular visitor who lived in Carouge. A total of around 250 new books were recorded for 2011.
- This year, we were visited by a number of people interested in the Mossadgh Foundation and its library. Among our visitors were students of the University of Geneva, people interested in the history of Iran, religions and also in Iranian literature. A significant number of the visitors came to the Foundation for the first time after having seen our posters in Geneva.
2012
- In June, the Mossadegh Foundation announced the publication of the book « Mossadegh, pages d’histoire de l’Iran » written by Mr. Abdol-Madjid Bayat Mossadegh. This book chronicles the life of Dr. Mossadegh and the history of Iran during the period of his life.
- In October, the Uni3 program of the University of Geneva and the city of Carouge organized guides lterary visits in Carouge. The library of the Foundation accepted four groups of 20 visitors in four weeks. The attendees discovered the library of Iranology and Mr. Bayat-Mossadegh presented a brief history of Mossadegh and Iran at each meeting.
- The Foundation organized a gathering in December. The guest was Dr. Soudabeh Marin, who did a presentation based on the theme "Ostad Elahi and Tradition and Modernity." The conference took place at Uni Mail (University of Geneva) with the presence of around 90 people. At the end of the presentation, a discussion took place between invitees.
- The Institute of History of the Pontifical University of John Paul II in crakow, Poland sent a letter of appreciation for the assistance brought to the work of professor Marcin Rzepka, who visited the library of the foundation from Poland several times in order to accomplish his research on political movements in Iran.
- A new poster was designed by Ms. Farmanfarmaian and Mr. Bayat-Mossadegh. It was posted around town for the first time in December on the "Colonnes Moris" poster campaign offered by the city of Geneva.
2013
- In May, it was held the "Book Fair and the press of Geneva" and on this occasion, Thursday, May 2, at the booth of Gauthner Publishing, Mr. Bayat Mossadegh participates in a literary book signing to autograph his book "Mossadegh, pages d’histoire de l’Iran".
- On November 15, the Foundation awarded the Fifth Mossadegh Prize Laureate of Book to Dr. Hadi Enayat for his book in English "Law, State, and Society in Modern Iran: Constitutionalism, Autocracy, and Legal Reform, 1906-1941 "(Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).
- The Foundation redesigned his poster in a new format in order to comply with the new dimensions of Morris columns. It was posted in the city in December during a poster campaign offered by the City of Geneva.
2014
- In March, our library was honored by the visit of a group of Iranian people who participated in the human rights conferences which were held at the UN Geneva, and who visited the Foundation.
- The Foundation participated in two poster campaigns of the Morris columns in August and December. As for each campaign, several people who have seen the posters in the city, came to visit the library.
2015
- On January 30, the Foundation was honored to welcome Ms. Leili Anvar, who presented a lecture on "Malak Jân Nemati, a woman of contemplation and action that led many spiritual and social struggles." The event was held at the Foundation's headquarters.
- On November 27, the Foundation awarded the Sixth Mossadegh Prize Laureate of Book to Prof. Ervand Abrahamian, for his book in English "The Coup : The Coup: 1953, The CIA, and The Roots of Modern U.S.-Iranian Relations" (éditions : The New Press, New York, 2013).
2016
- The Foundation's website has been completely remaded to comply with new versions of programming languages and security standards. New content, photos and audios of Dr. Mossadegh have been added and are available on the site. The new site was put online in April.
- This year the Library's collection of documents was updated by the removal of several documents that did not correspond with the themes on Iran and the donation and purchase of new books. At the end of the year the catalog of the library contains 8715 titles.
2017
- For this year's publicity campaign, the Foundation has reprinted a poster that has already been used. And the posters were presented not on the fixed supports but on the TPG buses and tram way. Thus it was possible to see the posters of the Mossadegh Foundation in different neighborhoods of the city where buses go.
2018
- This year we worked on the Media Library project. Most of the videos have been digitized (copied from VHS tapes to the computer) and are available on the audiovisual system. A software will allow to view the documents. The next step in progress is the documentation of the videos in order to allow the search by the users.
2019
- On October 26, the Foundation nominated the seventh Mossadegh Laureate Award to Mr. Abbas Moayeri for his Persian miniature works and his book "Abbas Moayeri - Painter Miniaturist" (White REE - 2016). A conference was organized for this purpose and Mr. Abbas Moayeri presented his work through photos and videos. The ceremony took place at the Foundation headquarters with the participation of about 50 guests.
2020
- This year the foundation stopped its activities for several months and the library received few visitors. From November the library reopened its doors to the public. Visitors who contacted us in previous months were able to come and visit us and consult the books.
2021-2023
2021
- On Monday, September 13, 2021, we received the sad news that Mr. Abdol Madjid Bayat passed away.
Mr. Abdol Madjid Bayat was the founder and president of the Mossadegh Foundation with its Iranology Library. Since its inauguration, Mr. Bayat has led and organized the work and development of the Foundation's activities. He worked every day to set up and organize the library, conferences and other events offered to visitors and friends of the Foundation.
The members of the Foundation's Board will try to continue his work and his passion for the history and culture of Iran.
2022
- Tuesday, September 6th at the Mossadegh Foundation, the Persian language learning program began. A beginner level class with 5 students. Classes are given on Tuesday evenings for a duration of 1h30. Classes are divided into 2 semesters per year following the Geneva school calendar.
- On September 20, the Foundation awarded the eighth Mossadegh Prize Laureate, (for a Film) to Mr. Taghi Amirani, director, and Mr. Walther Murch, editor, for the documentary film "Coup 53". The ceremony took place at the Grutli cinema with the screening of the film and a moment of exchange between Mr. Amiri, Mr. Murch and the public.
2023
- In September at the start of the school year, the Mossadegh Foundation started Persian classes with a new class. From this school year the foundation has two classes: a beginner level class every Monday and an intermediate level class every Tuesday. Classes are given in the evening from 6:30 p.m. This year 11 registered students participated in the Persian classes.
- In September, the Mossadegh Foundation opened a class for learning Persian Miniature, led by the painter Mrs. Mojdeh TALEGHANI. The meetings in the premises of the foundation last 3 months.
