Objects spanning 5,000 years of Iranian art, culture, and design, from ancient sculptures to modern photography, will be on exhibit this week at London's Victoria & Albert (V&A) museum during the first such large show in Britain in 90 years.

"Epic Iran," which officially opens on Saturday, includes more than 300 pieces from ancient, Islamic, and modern Iran, such as manuscripts, pottery, carpets, textiles, and photographs, according to the museum.

The exhibition is divided into ten parts, featuring "The Persian Empire," which spans the Achaemenid period, "Change of Faith," which examines the importance of Islam in Iranian culture, and "Literary Excellence," which highlights Persian poetry.

"It's only now that people have recognized that Iran does have this beautiful, deep creative past, amazing cultural history that dates back many, many, many years," said co-curator John Curtis to Reuters.

Ancient antiquities such as the Cyrus Cylinder and Lion Rhyton, and few more recent pieces including Shirin Aliabadi's image of a lady blowing bubblegum, are on display, presumably gathered by the museum or on loan.

"This has been a tough moment to put forth an exhibition... it hasn't been able to get things from Iran," Curtis explained, alluding to the COVID-19 outbreak and restrictions reinstated on Iran when former US President Donald Trump pulled out of a 2015 nuclear deal in 2018.

"We had to obtain things from other areas, and I believe we were enormously successful in doing so... what you're seeing here provides everyone a comprehensive image of Iran's great civilizations.