Nishapur

For the administrative subdivision, see Nishapur County.

Nishapur نیشابور Neyshabur
Seal
Nickname(s):  Sassanid and Umayyed era: Abarshahr (Upper Cities), Little Damascus (by Ibn Battuta
Country	Iran
Province	Razavi Khorasan
County	Nishapur County
Foundation	3rd century
Municipality of Nishapur	1931
Government
• Mayor	Mohammad-Hassan Zarandi
• Governor of County	Esfandiar Jalayeri
Elevation	1,250 m (4,100 ft)
Population  (2011)
• Total	City of Nishapur : 239,185 Nishapur County : 433,105 Urban areas of Nishapur County : 270,301
	2 Census
Demonym	Nishapuri
Time zone	UTC+03:30 (IRST)
Website	Neyshaboor, Rowzaneh,511

Nishapur or Nishabur (Persian: نیشابور, also Romanized as Nīshāpūr, Nīshābūr, and Neyshābūr from Middle Persian: New-Shabuhr, meaning "New City of Shapur" or "Perfect built of Shapur"), is a city in the Razavi Khorasan Province, capital of the Nishapur County and former capital of Khorasan, in northeastern Iran, situated in a fertile plain at the foot of the Mount Binalud. It had an estimated population of 239,185 as of 2011 and its county 433,105. Nearby are the turquoise mines that supplied the world with turquoise for at least two millennia.

The city was founded in the 3rd century by Shapur I as a Sasanian satrapy capital. Nishapur later became the capital of Tahirid dynasty and was reformed by Abdullah Tahir in 830, and was later selected as the capital of Seljuq dynasty by Tughril in 1037. From the Abbasid era to Mongol invasion of Khwarezmia and Eastern Iran, the city evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellectual center within the Islamic world. Nishapur, along with Merv, Herat and Balkh were one of the four great cities of Greater Khorasan and one of the greatest cities in the middle ages, a seat of governmental power in eastern of caliphate, a dwelling place for diverse ethnic and religious groups, a trading stop on commercial routes from Transoxiana and China, Iraq and Egypt. The city reached the height of its prosperity under the Samanids in the 10th century, but was destroyed by Mongols in 1221, and further ruined by other invasions and earthquakes in the thirteenth century. After that time, a much smaller settlement was established just north of the ancient town, and the once bustling metropolis lay underground—until a team of excavators from the Metropolitan Museum of New York arrived in the mid-twentieth century. They worked at Nishapur between 1935 and 1940, returning for a final season in the winter of 1947–48. What remains of old Nishapur region is a 3500 hectares "Kohandejh" area, south of the current city of Nishapur.

History

Main article: History of Nishapur

Nishapur occupies an important strategic position astride the old Silk Road that linked Anatolia and the Mediterranean Sea with China. On the Silk Road, Nishapur has often defined the flexible frontier between the Iranian plateau and Central Asia. The town derived its name from its reputed founder, the Sassanian king Shapur I, who is said to have established it in the 3rd century CE. Nearby are the turquoise mines that supplied the world with turquoise for at least two millennia. It became an important town in the Khorasan region but subsequently declined in significance until a revival in its fortunes in 9th century under the Tahirid dynasty, when the glazed ceramics of Nishapur formed an important item of trade to the west. For a time Nishapur rivaled Baghdad or Cairo: Toghrül, the first ruler of the Seljuk dynasty, made Nishapur his residence in 1037 and proclaimed himself sultan there, but it declined thereafter, as Seljuk fortunes were concentrated in the west. In the year 1000CE, it was among the 10 largest cities on earth. After the husband of Genghis Khan's daughter was killed at Nishapur in 1221, she ordered the death of all in the city (~1.7 million), and the skulls of men, women, and children were piled in pyramids by the Mongols. This invasion and earthquakes destroyed the pottery kilns. In 1979, the 15th World Scout Jamboree was scheduled to be held in Nishapur, but it was cancelled because of the uprising against the Shah of Iran led by Khomeini Ayatollah.

Origin of Name: It seems to have been founded by the Sasanian Shapur I in the 3rd century CE, and possibly rebuilt by Shapur II in the following century. The name presumably stems from *nēv-šāpūr "fair, good city of Shapur."

Culture

Nishapur is also home to many poets and cultural celebrities. The poet and mathematician Omar Khayyám was born in Nishapur in 1048 and is buried a few miles outside the town, near the Imamzadeh Mahroq Mosque. The 12th-century poet and mystic Farid al-Din Attar, another native of Nishapur, is also buried nearby. And Iran's greatest contemporary painter, Kamal-ol-molk is buried in the same place. Also Nishapur has been the hometown of famous people including:

1. Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj (one of Islam's greatest muhaddiths, whose collection of hadith, Sahih Muslim, is second in authenticity only to Muhammad al-Bukhari's Sahih al-Bukhari)
2. Imam al-Hakim (another one of Islam's greatest muhaddiths and scholarly giants)
3. Prof. Mohammad Reza Shafiei-Kadkani (great contemporary Persian poet and writer and Persian literature Professor, who is famous for his literary criticism)
4. Ostad Parviz Meshkatian (famous Musician, researcher, Santur player and composer).
5. Heydar Yaghma (an illiterate worker who began telling poems and published them.)
6. Haji Bektash Veli (Muslim mystic, humanist and philosopher)
7. Saadat Khan or Wakil-i-Mutlaq, Saadat Khan also called Burhan-ul-Mulk, was the founder of the Awadh dynasty in north India in 18th century.

Arts

About Arts in Nishapur,or Arts of Old Nishapur

Pottery

Bowl painted on slip under transparent glaze (Polychrome), Nishabur, IX-X century. National Museum of Iran, Tehran.

Nishapur during Islamic Golden Age , especially 9th and 10th century was one of the great centers of pottery and related arts .Most of Ceramic artifacts discovered in Nishapur preserve in Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museums inTehran and Mashhad.Ceramics produced at Nishapur showed links with Sassanid art and Central Asian. Nowadays there are 4 Pottery workshop in Nishapur.

Carpet-weaving

File:Oman-Muscat-Grand-Mosque-18.jpg

Carpet Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque,weaved in Nishapur

Weaving carpets and rugs common in the more than 470 villages in Nishapur County,the most important carpet Workshop located in the villages of : Shafi' Abad,Garineh Darrud Baghshan Kharv Bozghan Sayyed Abad Sar Chah Suleymani Sultan Abad and Eshgh Abad. Nishapur Carpet workshops weaved the biggest Carpets in the world ,like carpets of : Sheikh Zayed Mosque , Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque , Armenian Presidential Palace ,Embassy of Finland in Tehran , Mohammed Al-Ameen Mosque in Oman .

Modern art of carpet in Nishapur began in 1946 after inauguration of a carpet-weaving workshop in a caravansary.

Turquoise Masonry

Cutting and grinding turquoise in Nishapur, Iran, 1973

For at least 2,000 years, Iran( known before as Persia) has remained an important source of turquoise which was named by Iranians initially "pirouzeh" meaning "victory" and later after Arab invasion "firouzeh". In Iranian architecture, the blue turquoise was used to cover the domes of the Iranian palaces because its intense blue colour was also a symbol of heaven on earth.

This deposit, which is blue naturally, and turns green when heated due to dehydration, is restricted to a mine-riddled region in Nishapur, the 2,012-metre (6,601 ft) mountain peak of Ali-mersai, which is tens of kilometers from Mashhad, the capital of Khorasan province, Iran. A weathered and broken trachyte is host to the turquoise, which is found both in situ between layers of limonite and sandstone, and amongst the scree at the mountain's base. These workings, together with those of the Sinai Peninsula, are the oldest known.

Tile

Tile working in Muhammad al-Mahruq Mosque,Nishapur

In many important historical or modern monuments and buildings the Art of Tiles are widely used in Nishapur,

Wooden Arts

Wooden Mosque of Nishapur.

Calligraphy

File:Calligraphy Conference about Laylt ul-Ghadr - Nishapur 1.jpg

Calligraphy Conference about Laylat al-Qadr in Nishapur,July 31 ,2013

Statuary

Statue of Kamal-ol-molk on his grave

Wall Painting

Members of Red Crescent in village of Shur Rud,painting walls

Popular culture

US band Santana released an instrumental track entitled "Incident at Neshabur" on their 1970 LP release, Abraxas.

Archaeology sites

Bowl with white slip, incised design, colored, and glazed. Excavated at Sabz Pushan, Neishapur. 9th-early 10th century. New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Little archaeology has been done on this vast and complicated site. George Curzon remarked that Nishapur had been destroyed and rebuilt more times than any other city in history, an evocative statement whether or not it is statistically true. The Metropolitan Museum of Art undertook excavations from 1935 that were interrupted in 1940. Searching largely for museum-worthy trophies that they shared with the government of the Shah, the Metropolitan's publications were limited to its own Nishapur ceramics. The site of Nishapur has been ransacked for half a century since World War II, to feed the international market demand for early Islamic works of art.

Shadiyakh

Shadiyakh (in Persian: شادیاخ, a contracted form of شادی کاخ, Shadi-Kakh or Palace of Happiness) was one of the main palaces of old Nishapur up to the 9th century AD, which became more important and populated after that. Some notable people like Attar lived there. Attar's tomb is nowadays in that area. This palace was perhaps completely ruined in 13th century.

ٍExcavations began in 2000 there and continued for around two years: buildings (possibly a palace), skeleton, equipments and other items were found there.

Recent incidents

• On July 24, 1987, a flood in Boojan village killed over 1,000 people and destroyed some villages.
• On February 18, 2004, in the Nishapur train disaster, a train carrying flammable goods derailed and caught fire near the town. Five hours later, during fire fighting and rescue work, a massive explosion destroyed the train and many nearby buildings. Around 300 people were said to have been killed, mainly fire and rescue workers but also the local governor and mayor and the heads of the fire and rail services.

Souvenirs

The most important Nishapur souvenirs include turquoise and rhubarb.

Neyshabur Turquoise has been used for more than 2000 years and for this turquoise it is sometimes called "the turquoise land". Neyshabur turquoise and jewellery made from it are sold as souvenirs in Neyshabur and Mashhad resorts.

Rhubarb (Persian rivaas or rivand), a sour vegetable, grows at the foot of the eponymous Rivand Mountains (more recently, Turkified as Mount Binalud). Soft drinks made from the stems of the plant, such as "Sharbate rivaas" (in Persian:شربت ریواس) and "Khoshaabe rivaas" (in Persian:خوشاب ریواس), are sold at some Nishapur resorts as souvenirs.

Quotes

This section includes quotes about Nishapur or its global celebrities.

Nishapur ... pleasant town ... Nishapur, is the best cities of the Great Khorasan.

— Hadith, source

If you wanted to travel to only one city in the world, I have no doubt that the city of Nishapur. I think the secret is all in the same universe

— Jorge Luis Borges, source

The only city that had the ability to parity with Cairo, was Nishapur.

— Nasir Khosrow, source

Nishapur is the site link of iran and Islam.The superior quality and Historical and Islamic position of Nishapur, It requires a special look to be seen today

— Mohammad Khatami, source

Nishapur is Miniaturized Damascus

— Ibn Batuta, source

Two things make men free from sorrow Travel / Morning of Nishapur and Sleeping in Baghdad.

— Middle eastern proverb, source

this Nishapur on my view is greater iran compressed

— Mohammad-Reza Shafiei Kadkani, source

Renowned editors and authors of this city rising up, so that scholars of this area will not be considered

— Estakhri, source

Sister cities

• Kairouan, Tunisia
• Baghdad, Iraq
• Basra, Iraq
• Ghazni, Afghanistan
• Balkh, Afghanistan
• Herat, Afghanistan
• Merv, Turkmenistan
• Bukhara, Uzbekistan
• Samarqand, Uzbekistan
• Khiva, Uzbekistan
• Khojand, Tajikistan
• Kulob, Tajikistan

Famous people from Nishapur

Classical period

• Al-Juwayni - Renowned Muslim Theologian.
• Sheikh Attar - hagiographer & poet
• Hakim al-Nishaburi - Muhaddith (scholar of hadith)
• Imam Muslim - Islamic scholar of hadith (the second most famous scholar of hadith in Islamic history after al-Bukhari)
• Omar Khayyam - mathematician & poet

Contemporary

• Abolghasem Sakhdari - wrestler
• Saeed Khani - footballer
• Yaghoub Ali Shourvarzi - wrestler

Further reading

• Wilkinson, Charles K. (1973). Nishapur: pottery of the early Islamic period. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 0870990764. {{cite book}}: External link in |title= (help)

External links

• Nishapur Mayors Template:Fa icon
• Nishapur governors Template:Fa icon
• Ceramics of Nishapur and other centers
• World Gazetteer on Nishapur
• Neyshaburian e-newspaper Template:Fa icon
• A useful weblog about Nishapur Template:Fa icon
• wooden village website
• Nishapur Mathhouse
• Neyshabur bonyad Template:Fa icon
• Elias Pirasteh, Neyshabur, Photo Set, flickr
• Ardavan Ruzbeh, When National Heritage is not an equal to the Emām-Jom'eh, a reportage on the demolition of a national monument, Madreseh-ye Golshan (مدرسه گلشن), in Nishabur, in Persian, Radio Zamāneh, May 29, 2008: Text, Audio.
• Hossein Davoudi, Dizbād: A Staircase to History, in Persian, Jadid Online, 2008, [1].
  A Slide Show of Dizbād, by Hossein Davoudi, Jadid Online, 2008, [2] (5 min 39 sec).
  Note: Dizbād is a small village between Mashhad and Neyshābūr, located at some 40 km distance from Mashhad.