The Bazaar of Tabriz ( fa, بازار تبریز, also
Romanize
Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...
d as ''Bāzār-e Tabriz'') is a historical market situated in the city center of
Tabriz
Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the List of largest cities of Iran, sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quri Chay, Quru River valley in Iran's historic Aze ...
,
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. It is one of the oldest
bazaar
A bazaar () or souk (; also transliterated as souq) is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, North Africa and India. However, temporary open markets elsewhere, suc ...
s in the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
and the largest covered bazaar in the world. It is one of
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
's
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
s.
History
Tabriz
Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the List of largest cities of Iran, sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quri Chay, Quru River valley in Iran's historic Aze ...
has been a place of cultural exchange since antiquity. Its historic bazaar complex is one of the most important commercial centres on the
Silk Road
The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and reli ...
. A bazaar has existed on the same site since the early periods of Iranian urbanism following Islam. The bazaar was mentioned by the Venetian traveler
Marco Polo
Marco Polo (, , ; 8 January 1324) was a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in ''The Travels of Marco Polo'' (also known as ''Book of the Marv ...
, who claimed to have passed through it while journeying on the Silk Road.
Al-Maqdisi
Shams al-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Abī Bakr al-Maqdisī ( ar, شَمْس ٱلدِّيْن أَبُو عَبْد ٱلله مُحَمَّد ابْن أَحْمَد ابْن أَبِي بَكْر ٱلْمَقْدِسِي), ...
in 10th century,
Yaqut al-Hamawi
Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) ( ar, ياقوت الحموي الرومي) was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine Greek ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th-13th centuries). He is known fo ...
in ca.
1213 CE,
Zakariya al-Qazwini
Zakariyya' al-Qazwini ( , ar, أبو يحيى زكرياء بن محمد بن محمود القزويني), also known as Qazvini ( fa, قزوینی), born in Qazvin (Iran) and died 1283, was a Persian cosmographer and geographer of Arab ance ...
in ca.
1252 CE,
Marco Polo
Marco Polo (, , ; 8 January 1324) was a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in ''The Travels of Marco Polo'' (also known as ''Book of the Marv ...
in
1271 CE,
Odoric of Pordenone
Odoric of Pordenone, OFM (1286–1331), also known as Odorico Mattiussi/Mattiuzzi, Odoricus of Friuli or Orderic of Pordenone, was an Italian late-medieval Franciscan friar and missionary explorer. He traveled through India, the Greater Sunda Is ...
in ca.
1321 CE,
Ibn Battuta
Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Battutah (, ; 24 February 13041368/1369),; fully: ; Arabic: commonly known as Ibn Battuta, was a Berbers, Berber Maghrebi people, Maghrebi scholar and explorer who travelled extensively in the lands of Afro-Eurasia, ...
in ca.
1330 CE,
Ambrogio Contarini in
1474 CE,
Hamdallah Mustawfi
Hamdallah Mustawfi Qazvini ( fa, حمدالله مستوفى قزوینی, Ḥamdallāh Mustawfī Qazvīnī; 1281 – after 1339/40) was a Persian official, historian, geographer and poet. He lived during the last era of the Mongol Ilkhanate, and ...
in around 13th to 14th century, John Cartwright in
1606 CE,
Jean Chardin
Jean Chardin (16 November 1643 – 5 January 1713), born Jean-Baptiste Chardin, and also known as Sir John Chardin, was a French jeweller and traveller whose ten-volume book ''The Travels of Sir John Chardin'' is regarded as one of the finest ...
at the time of
Suleiman I of Persia
Suleiman I (; born Sam Mirza, February or March 1648 – 29 July 1694) was the eighth and the penultimate Shah of Safavid Iran from 1666 to 1694. He was the eldest son of Abbas II and his concubine, Nakihat Khanum. Born as Sam Mirza, Suleiman s ...
,
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (1605–1689) was a 17th-century French gem merchant and traveler. Tavernier, a private individual and merchant traveling at his own expense, covered, by his own account, 60,000 leagues in making six voyages to Persia ...
in ca.
1636 CE,
Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri (1651–1725) was a seventeenth-century Italian adventurer and traveler. He was among the first Europeans to tour the world by securing passage on ships involved in the carrying trade; his travels, undertaken for p ...
in ca.
1642 CE and dozens of other explorers and historians have written about the Bazaar of Tabriz, which shows its importance and significance during the different periods of time.
Located in the center of the city of
Tabriz
Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the List of largest cities of Iran, sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quri Chay, Quru River valley in Iran's historic Aze ...
,
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, the structure is divided into rows, many devoted to particular categories of product. These include Amir Bazaar (for gold and jewelry), Mozzafarieh (hand woven rugs, sorted by knot size and type), Bashmakhchi Bazaar (shoes), Kiz Basdi Bazaar, and Rahli Bazaar (produce). Tabriz and its bazaar were at their most prosperous in the 16th century, when the town became the capital city of the
Safavid
Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...
kingdom. The city lost this status in the 17th century, but its bazaar has remained important as a commercial and economic hub in the region and on the silk road.
Although numerous modern shops and malls have been established in recent years, Tabriz Bazaar has kept its vital role as economic hub of the city and northwestern Iran.
Tabriz Bazaar has also been a place of political significance, for instance in the
Iranian Constitutional Revolution
The Persian Constitutional Revolution ( fa, مشروطیت, Mashrūtiyyat, or ''Enghelāb-e Mashrūteh''), also known as the Constitutional Revolution of Iran, took place between 1905 and 1911. The revolution led to the establishment of a par ...
and in the contemporary
Islamic Revolution.
The bazaar was inscribed as a
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
by
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
in July 2010.
Ceremonies
The bazaar is used for some important religious ceremonies. The most famous one is
Day of Ashura
A day is the time period of a full rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours, 1440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds. In everyday life, the word "day" often refers to a solar day, which is the length between two s ...
during which merchants cease trading for about 10 days and religious ceremonies are held inside the bazaar. Like other bazaars in Middle East, there are several mosques constructed behind the bazaar, the most notable of them being
Jome' Mosque.
Restoration
In 2000, the
Historical Hermitages Organization of Iran begin a restoration project of the Bazaar, with the full participation of the shop owners. The rehabilitation project won the
Aga Khan Award for Architecture
The Aga Khan Award for Architecture (AKAA) is an architectural prize established by Aga Khan IV in 1977. It aims to identify and reward architectural concepts that successfully address the needs and aspirations of Muslim societies in the field ...
in 2013.
Photo gallery
File:Mozzaffariyeh 2.jpg, Mozaffarieh, a major row for hand woven rugs in Tabriz Grand Bazaar.
File:Ceiling of Mozaffariyeh, Grand Bazzar of Tabriz, IRAN.jpg, Mozaffariyeh, Bazaar of Tabriz.
File:Mozaffariyeh Arcade.jpg, One of two entrance gates to Mozzafariyeh.
File:Bazaar of Tabriz - April 2009.jpg, Dome in Amir row of Bazaar.
File:Amir Timche.jpg, َCarvansaray near Amir row.
File:Bazaar of Tabriz, carvaansray.jpg, A Carvansaray in Bazaar of Tabriz.
File:Gan-Dallazan Bazar, Tabriz, Iran.jpg, Gan Bazaar, a row in Tabriz Grand Bazaar.
File:Gan-Dallazan Bazar II, Tabriz, Iran.jpg, Gan Bazaar, translates to wider bazaar, a row in Tabriz Grand Bazaar.
File:Tabriz Grand Bazar.jpg
File:The world heritage base of Tabriz historical market complex 1.jpg
File:Beautiful architecture tabriz bazaar.jpg
File:Bazar 105.jpg
File:Tabriz Bazar 002.jpg
File:Tabriz Bazar 003.jpg
File:Tabriz Bazar 001.jpg
File:Amiralley-Tabriz.JPG
File:Bazaar of Tabriz.JPG
File:Bazaar of gold, tabriz.jpg
File:The_Bazar_at_Tabriz.jpg
File:Carpet Bazaar of Tabriz.JPG
File:CarpetBazaar.Tabriz.jpg
File:CarpetBazaar2.Tabriz.jpg
File:Iran bazar tabriz street scene.jpg
File:Tabriz-Carpet_Bazaar.jpg
File:TabrizBazaar.JPG
File:TabrizBazar.jpg
See also
References
Further reading
*Gregorian, Vartan (2003). ''The Road to Home: My Life and Times''. New York: Simon & Schuster.
*Levinson, David; Christensen, Karen (2002). ''Encyclopedia of Modern Asia''. New York:
Scribner's
Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing American authors including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjorie Kinnan Rawli ...
.
*Swiętochowski, Thaddeus (1995). ''Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition''. New York: Columbia University Press.
*Hosseini, Hamid-Rezā (2 August 2010)
"وسیع ترین بازار ایران" argest bazaar in Iran Jadid Online.
External links
Tishineh(audio slideshow with English subtitles). Jadid Online.
{{Portalbar, Iran
Bazaars
Bazaars in Iran
Tabriz
Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the List of largest cities of Iran, sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quri Chay, Quru River valley in Iran's historic Aze ...
Architecture in Iran
Shopping malls established in the 16th century
Tourist attractions in Tabriz
World Heritage Sites in Iran
National works of Iran