Tabriz

Tabriz is the capital of East Azerbaijan, a province of Iran. It is an ancient city with a history dating back approximately 4500 years. Archaeologists have found evidence for this in excavations near the Blue Mosque.

It is located 310 km southeast of Bazargan (Iran-Turkey border), 159 km south of Jolfa (Iran-Azerbaijan Republic border), and can be reached by road, rail (742 km from Tehran, with connections to Europe and Moscow, and by air from Tehran, Istanbul and other major cities.

By virtue of its location, Tabriz has a pleasant summer climate, but the cold in winter is harsh. Overall, it has a continental climate with low humidity. The average annual precipitation is 288 mm.

The city has a long and turbulent history: Although the early history of Tabriz is shrouded in mystery and legend, the origins of the city are said to date back to remote antiquity, possibly even before the Sasanian era (224-651 A.D). The oldest stone tablet with a reference to Tabriz dates from the time of Sargon II, Assyrian king.

The greatest boost to Tabriz came with the opening of Persia to the West at the turn of this century, when it became the main transit post between the interior of Iran and the Black Sea and, for a short period, the economic capital.

With a very rich history, Tabriz used to house many historical monuments. Unfortunately, many of them have been destroyed in repeated invasions and attacks by foreign forces, negligence of incumbent governments, as well as natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. It now remains mainly dated back to the Ilkhanids, Safavids and Qajars. Some of the monuments are incomparable masterpieces of architecture. Shahrdari Square is the center of the city, on the southwest of which is the imposing municipality building. The railway station (5 km from the center of town) is at the western end of town. The Chai Quri River runs through Tabriz, and most places of interest to the visitor are south of this river and alone or north of Imam Khomeini Avenue.

El Goli is a superb park around an artificial square pond. In the center, a small room is on an island and houses a restaurant. Very pleasant to eat or sip a tchelokebab a little tea while enjoying the coolness of the park in summer.

Blue Mosque originally built in 1465, this mosque, which was once certainly superb, was badly damaged in an earthquake in 1778, leaving only the entrance Iwan. The Iranian Ministry of Culture rebuilt it in the early 1900s. The interior of the mosque is tiled with stunning blue ceramics, unfortunately, many pieces disappeared during the earthquake and were simply replaced with paint instead of tiles - some of the original tiles can be found around from the entrance.

The Tabriz Bazaar is one of the oldest bazaars in the Middle East and the largest covered bazaar in the world. UNESCO listed it as a World Heritage Site in July 2010.

Tabrizi rugs are some of the best in the world, and you will find masterpieces in the shops and inside the bazaar.

artificial square

 

Blue Mosque