Ardabil
اردبیلHigh, cold country under Mount Sabalan, cradle of the Safavid dynasty.
Ardabil was the home of Sheikh Safi al-Din, a fourteenth-century Sufi master whose order grew into the Safavid dynasty that united Iran in 1501. His shrine, enriched by the Safavid shahs, is a UNESCO World Heritage site; the Ardabil Carpet, woven for it in the 1530s, is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
The province is mountainous and cool, with hot springs at Sareyn on the slopes of Sabalan, and its people speak Azerbaijani Turkish.
Cities and towns
Ardabilاردبیل
The city of the Safavid shrine
Sareynسرعین
Hot springs below Sabalan
Meshgin Shahrمشگینشهر
A town on the northern slopes of the mountain
Landmarksبناها و نشانهها
Sheikh Safi al-Din Shrine
بقعه شیخ صفیالدینThe shrine of the Safavids' ancestor
Mount Sabalan
سبلانAn extinct volcano with a crater lake at its summit
Ardabil through time
Iranian historySeljuks, Mongols and Ilkhanidsسلجوقیان، مغولان و ایلخانان
Turkic and then Mongol conquerors took Iran in turn. The Seljuks built mosques and colleges; the Mongols brought catastrophe, then, as the Ilkhanids, became patrons of history-writing and art.
- Death of Sheikh Safi al-Din
- Ismail I founds the Safavid dynasty
- Shrine inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage site
Stories from hereداستانها
The Safavids
The Safavids made Twelver Shia Islam Iran's state religion and rebuilt Isfahan as one of the most admired cities in the world.
The Ardabil Carpet
A dated, inscribed Safavid carpet more than ten metres long, signed with a line of Hafez and the name of Maqsud of Kashan.