Shiraz
| Shiraz, The city of poets | |
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شوم یک سر برونم تا به شیراز "Straight to Shiraz I will flee, خوشا شیراز و وضع بی مثالش "Pleasant is Shiraz and its incomparable state. شیراز و آب رکنی و این باد خوش نسیم "Shiraz and the water of Roknabad, and this pleasant breeze, | |
Shirāz (شیراز in Persian) is a city in southwest Iran (Persia).
Its elevation is 1486 metres above sea level amidst the Zagros Mountains, and it is the capital of Fars Province. It was the capital of Persia during the Zand dynasty from 1750 until 1794, when the Qajar dynasty moved the capital to Tehran. Its population was 1,050,000 persons in 1996.
Geography
Shirāz is located in the foothills of the Zagros Mountains in about 29° N, 52° E and eleveation of about 1600 meters (5200 ft). In relation to its neighboring provinces, Yazd and Khouzestan, Shirāz has a more moderate climate, with warm/hot summers and mild winters. Shirāz is considered its economic base is in its provincial products: it produces grapes, citrus fruits, cotton and rice. In Shirāz itself, industries such as cement production, sugar, fertilizer, textile products, wood products, metalwork and rugs dominate. Shirāz is also a major center for Iran's electronic industries and has a major oil refinery as well. Shirāz is famous for its carpet production and flowers as well. It is also believed that the name of the Shiraz grape originates from here as well.
Attractions of Shiraz
Major popular attrcations in Shirāz include:
- Tomb of Hafez
- Tomb of Saadi
- Tomb of Khaju e Kermani
- 9th century Atigh Jame' Mosque
- Tomb of Shah Shoja'
- Haft Tanon
- The 14th century Shah Cheragh shrine
- The 19th century Nasir-ol-Molk mosque
- Arg (citadel) of Karim Khan
- Vakil Bazaar
- Vakil Bath
- Vakil Mosque
- Quran Gate
- Naranjestan e Ghavam House
- Zinat-ol-Molook House
- Afifabad Garden and The Museum of Weapons.
- Eram Garden
- Tomb of Baba Kuhi
- Tomb of Karim Khan Zand, and Museum of Pārs.
- Delgosha Garden
Nearby Shiraz are located:
- Ruins of Persepolis
- Ruins of Bishapur
- Ruins of Pasargadae
- Ruins of Firouzabad
and more than 200 other sites of historical significance, according to Iran's Cultural Heritage Organization.
History of Shiraz
The ancient Elamite name for this city was written Tiraziš'. This was according to Elamite clay tablets found in Persepolis. Phonetically, this is interpreted as /tiračis/ or /ćiračis/. This name became Old Persian /širājiš/; through regular sound change comes the modern Persian] name Shirāz. The name Shiraz also appears on clay sealings found at Qasr-i Abu Nasr, a Sassanid ruin, east of the city.
Fars province is home to three capitals in Persian history. The ruins of Persepolis, about 2500 years old, are found about 60 km northeast of Shiraz, as a witness to the ancient glory of the Achaemenid empire. Persepolis, Firouzabad, and Pasargadae are nearby ancient cynosures of this ancient civilization.
We know that settlements existed in Shiraz during the Sassanid era, as has been written in p126 of Hudud ul-'alam min al-mashriq ila al-maghrib, where two fire temples and a fortress called "Shahmobad" are reported. Hamdollah Mostowfi also verifies the existence of pre-Islamic settlements in Shiraz in his Nozhat ol-Qolub, p112. Shirāz as a city however began to grow in the 7th century when the power of the former regional capital Istakhr was broken by the Arabs. The major events during and after the Islamic conquest of Iran are:
- 640-653: Fars falls to the armies of Umar. Shiraz in 641. Istakhr in 653.
- 1387: Shirāz is occupied for a short period by Timur.
- 1393: Timur occupies Shirāz for the second time.
- 1630: A flood destroys large parts of the town.
- 1668: Another flood hits Shirāz.
- 1724: Shirāz is sacked by Afghan invaders.
- 1750: Shirāz becomes capital of the Zand dynasty. Many of the famous buildings are restored or rebuilt from this period.
- 1794: End of the Zand dynasty, and Shirāz' status as capital.
- 1824: An earthquake destroys parts of the town.
- 1853: A heavy earthquake hits Shirāz, but many important buildings are spared.
- 1945: Shirāz University opens.
During the Pahlavi era, The Shāh spent large sums of money on Shirāz to revive the grandeur of Achaemenid Persia. The 2500th anniversary of the Persian empire and the lareg flow of investments in Pahlavi University were notable projects among others drawn up for this purpose, rendering Shiraz a prominent status among Iranian cities by the late 1970s.
After the revolution, Shirāz fell out of favor by the ruling establishment in Tehran. To the new republic, Shirāz was a sign of ("taaghoot") decadence from the former Pahlavi regime. Incompetent authorities were often assigned to city and mayor positions that led to a chaotic urban sprawl, and Shirāz University, once destined to become a world class institution, was neglected and ignored almost entirely. Today, after 30 years, the never finished skeletal structure of buildings started in the Shahs era still stand, with the steel I-beams rusting away, similar to the columns of Persepolis and Pasargadae. Instead, cities like Isfahan, the symbol of a successful Islamic culture, have become the image Iranian authorities wish to present Iran as.
Universities of Shirāz
During the Shāh's era, Shirāz had an excellent academic community. Shiraz University (former Pahlavi University) was an English-speaking University that had very close ties to the University of Pennsylvania during the 1960s and 70s.
The major universities in or nearby Shirāz today are:
Notable people
- Sibawayh, one of the founders of Arabic grammar, died here.
- Karim Khan, founder of the Zand dynasty.
- Lotf Ali Khan, the last ruler of the Zand dynasty.
- Saadi, writer, poet, born and died here.
- Hafez, poet, born and died here.
- Zahra Kazemi, photographer, born here.
- Ladan and Laleh Bijani, twins, born here.
- Shāh Shoja', buried here.
- Khaju e Kermani, buried here.
- Mulla Sadra was born here.
- Asghar Shekari was born here.
- Seyyed Zia'eddin Tabatabaee was born here.
- Ibn Khafif, a 9th century sage, is buried here.
Transportation
Shiraz is accessible via freeways to Isfahan, roadways to Bushehr, railways, and air.
Airports
Useful references about Shiraz
- Shiraz in the Age of Hafez: The Glory of a Medieval Persian City. by John Limbert. 2004. ISBN 0-295-98391-4 [1] John Limbert has taught at Shiraz University.