East Azerbaijan
آذربایجان شرقیTabriz and its great bazaar, capital of the Ilkhanids and the early Safavids, on the road to Anatolia and the Caucasus.
Tabriz served as capital under the Ilkhanids in the thirteenth century and again under the early Safavids. Its covered bazaar, one of the largest in the world, is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The city was at the centre of the Constitutional Revolution of 1905 to 1911. To the south, the village of Kandovan is carved into volcanic cones, and at Maragheh Nasir al-Din Tusi ran the Ilkhanid observatory from 1259.
Cities and towns
Tabrizتبریز
The city of the great bazaar
Maraghehمراغه
Site of the Ilkhanid observatory
Kandovanکندوان
A village of houses cut into rock cones
Landmarksبناها و نشانهها
Tabriz Bazaar
بازار تبریزOne of the largest covered bazaars in the world
Kandovan
کندوانHouses carved into volcanic cones
East Azerbaijan through time
Iranian historyThe Pahlavi century and afterدوران پهلوی و پس از آن
Two Pahlavi shahs built railways, universities and a centralised state, while poets, novelists and film-makers created a new Persian culture. The era ended with the revolution of 1979.
- Tabriz bazaar inscribed by UNESCO
Poets of East Azerbaijanشاعران
Iraj Mirza
ایرج میرزاA Qajar prince who brought everyday speech, wit and a sharp social eye into Persian verse at the turn of the 20th century.
Shahriar
شهریارMaster of the modern ghazal in Persian and author of the best-loved poem in Azerbaijani Turkish. Iran's National Poetry Day marks his death.
Parvin E'tesami
پروین اعتصامیThe most celebrated woman poet of early modern Iran, whose debate poems give voice to the poor, the orphaned and the overlooked.
Stories from hereداستانها
Seljuks, Mongols and Ilkhanids
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.
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 city workshops
City carpets are woven to a drawn design, in workshops, by many hands. Each city has its own handwriting.
Village and tribal weaving
Woven from memory rather than from paper, on looms that sometimes travel, village and tribal rugs make up much of Iran’s weaving.