Oudlajan ( fa, عودلاجان) is a historic neighborhood in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

, Iran. The neighborhood is surrounded by Pamenar Street, Cyrus Street (Mostafa Khomeini), Cheragh Bargh (Amir Kabir) and BozarJomehr Street (15 Khordad). Oudlajan, in addition to Arg, Dolat, Sangelaj, Bazar and Chalmeidan, constituted Old Tehran during the reign of

Naser al-Din Shah Qajar Naser al-Din Shah Qajar ( fa, ناصرالدین‌شاه قاجار; 16 July 1831 – 1 May 1896) was the fourth Shah of Qajar Iran from 5 September 1848 to 1 May 1896 when he was assassinated. He was the son of Mohammad Shah Qajar and Malek ...

(1848-1896). Old Oudlajan consisted of 2619 houses and 1146 shops and was one of the biggest and wealthiest neighborhoods in Tehran.عودلاجان، نامی از تهران قدیم
retrieved on arcpedia.com on February 15, 2014

Etymology

The name Oudlajan in the historic Tati language means the 'place for dividing the water'. Some believe that Oudlajan means 'Abdullah Jan' (Dear Abdullah) in a Jewish dialect. Before the spread of the Persian language, most people of Oudlajan spoke the Tati language.

History

Most of the people living in Oudlajan were

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. In addition there were Zoroastrians living in Oudlajan. Many famous Iranian politicians such as

Qavam family The Ghavam (Qavam) family ( fa, خاندان قوام شیرازی) was one of the most influential Iranian families in the Qajar dynasty, Qajar era (1785–1925). They were descendants of Haj Ebrahim Khan Kalantar. Many sources such as British secr ...

, Mostofi Family, Nasiroldoleh, Seyyed Hassan Modarres lived in Oudlajan. The houses with many rooms around a yard (with a small pool in the middle) were called Ghamar khanoom houses. Oudlajan was the wealthiest neighborhood in the

Qajar Qajar Iran (), also referred to as Qajar Persia, the Qajar Empire, '. Sublime State of Persia, officially the Sublime State of Iran ( fa, دولت علیّه ایران ') and also known then as the Guarded Domains of Iran ( fa, ممالک م ...

era and kept its status until the

Pahlavi era The Pahlavi dynasty ( fa, دودمان پهلوی) was the last Iranian royal dynasty, ruling for almost 54 years between 1925 and 1979. The dynasty was founded by Reza Shah Pahlavi, a non-aristocratic Mazanderani soldier in modern times, who ...

. However, with the big changes in Iranian society in 1340 AH it gradually lost its status. The biggest obstacle to Oudlajan today is the expansion of the Bazar neighborhood. This trend has changed Oudlajan from a wealthy neighborhood into a storage area for Bazar and many old houses were turned into places for addicts. In the 1940s-1950s, during the reign of

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi , title = Shahanshah Aryamehr Bozorg Arteshtaran , image = File:Shah_fullsize.jpg , caption = Shah in 1973 , succession = Shah of Iran , reign = 16 September 1941 – 11 February 1979 , coronation = 26 October ...

, as a result of the neighborhood's decline and the growth of Tehran and its enlargement to the north, the Jewish inhabitants of Oudlajan gradually moved to Tehran's northern parts, in particular Bagh-Saba (East), Hasan Abad (West) and its neighborhoods.

Synagogues

Tehran's oldest synagogues are located in Oudlajan.

References

Geography of Tehran {{iran-geo-stub