IRAN TABRIZ TOURISM
“The men of Tor (i) s live on merchandising and on arts, that is, to work silk and gold drapes. And it is in such a good place that merchants come from India, Baudac and Mosul and Cremo, and from many other places. The Latin merchants go there for the strange merchants who come for a long time and earn a lot there; there you will find many precious priests. " Thus wrote Marco Polo of Tabriz, one of the most beautiful and evocative cities in Iran that has beaten others in the Islamic world by becoming the capital of tourism 2018, according to the cultural committee of the OCI, the Organization of Islamic Nations.

The authorities of the eastern Azerbaijan region, of which Tabriz is the capital, have announced a table of events and celebrations to make the most of the title received from the Islamic nations. The first big meeting in Tabriz will be that of 24 March, when on the occasion of the world celebrations of Nowruz (the Persian New Year), there will be presidents of Iran and other countries of the region that celebrate the archaic festival of early spring. For the month of July there will be an international craft fair. The city of the rest is the most famous place (along with others) for the production of carpets of the highest quality. The municipality announced that it has started short courses for taxi drivers, shopkeepers and restaurateurs to prepare them to entertain relations with foreign visitors.

Markets, monuments and museums
The origins of the city date back to the Manners and the Medes (first millennium BC) but today's beauties of Tabriz (the name comes from Tauris or fortress) are mainly from the 13th century onwards, when it was the capital of the Ilkanids, then the Aq Quyunlu and finally the Safavids, up to the 1548.

The Kabud mosque (or blue mosque)
Tabriz iran
The Kabud mosque (or blue mosque)
It is the most famous; also known as Jahan Sha. It is so named for the blue color of the dome and the tiles engraved on the external facade. It is also called "Firuze Jahan" or "Firuze Eslam" and was built in the fifteenth century by Jahan Sha Qare Quyunlu at the behest of the daughter of this king who was called Salehè. The mosque's front door is higher than street level and has an elliptical arch above.

At the sides of the mosque there are two columns that rise in the form of a helix and in the upper part take the shape of a crescent. These columns are entirely covered with turquoise tiles embellished with surreal floral motifs. Entering the gate we arrive in the Shabestan, or prayer hall. The walls of the room are covered with colored tiles and so small and so well set that they all look like one piece. The designs on the walls are so fine that they give the visitor the sensation of looking at a painting.

Friday's mosque
Tabriz iran
The Jame (or Friday) mosque
Visitors should definitely not miss it. It is one of the eternal monuments of the city whose construction date is not even known with certainty. It is certainly the oldest building in Tabriz, around which the bazaar and the entire historic center developed. The Shabestan or central hall is dominated by arches and domes supported on octagonal columns made of bricks and embellished with very fine plaster workings. In the Ilkanid period, that is of the Mongol domination, it was restored. In the period of the Aq Quyunlu a new dome was built in the northern part of the mosque but a subsequent earthquake destroyed this part of which today only the columns remain. Much of the original mosque has also collapsed and the Qajar dynasty reconstructed and strengthened the building; the current mosque still retains the original Mihrab and columns while the other parts were rebuilt after the earthquake.

The mosque or fortress of Alisha
Tabriz iran
The Alisha mosque
It is a unique work of the Ilkanid period. It has the tallest walls of all ancient buildings in Iran and is the symbol of the city of Tabriz. Qazan Khan built it, but the earthquake also destroyed the dome of this building; A splendid hall was also built next to it, inspired by a similar one in St. Petersburg, to house the city's symphony orchestra, but this too was destroyed. Today near the Alisha fortress stands the Mosallà, or the place of prayer for special occasions. Among the peculiarities of this building is that it has resisted better than any other earthquakes, attacks, cannon fire.

According to architecture experts, it is the most impressive example of the engineering technique and ancient architecture of the Tabriz school.

The Tabriz Bazaar
Tabriz iran
The Tabriz bazaar
It covers an area of ​​one million square meters and is the largest ancient work in Iran and the largest brick construction in the world. It is not known, even in this case, when it was built exactly; some scholars believe it to be a pre-Islamic building, that is of the Sassanid era, while others trace it back to the post-Islamic era and to the dominion of the Seljuk Turks. Several parts of the bazaar collapsed as a result of the earthquakes, but due to its importance each time this building was rebuilt.

The last reconstruction of the bazaar dates back to three centuries ago or at the end of the power of the Zand dynasty and the beginning of the Qajaride power. The Bazaar is an unparalleled center of life and in addition to its economic role, it also plays an important social, religious and political role. In 1975 it was registered on the National Cultural Heritage list of Iran and in 2010 it was the first bazaar in the world to enter the UNESCO list. In this Bazaar you will find the marvel of 160 characteristic elements of the ancient Persian Bazaars such as caravanserais, corridors, hujré (shops), mosques, madrasas, spas, halls for traditional sports (zurkhané) and small centers sale of said bazarchè.

Tabriz bazaar, like the other ancient markets of Iran, is divided into several smaller bazaars, such as Amir bazaar, Kafashan bazaar (shoemakers), Talaforushan bazaar (jewelers), Kolahduzan bazaar (hat sewers), Mesgaran bazaar (of copper workers) and others.

"Azerbaijan" Museum
Tabriz iran
The "Azerbaijan" museum
It is worth the trip to Tabriz alone. It is one of the most important in all of Iran located next to the famous Kabud mosque. This 3 square meter center was inaugurated in 1962 and is divided into three sections, the prehistoric part, the pre-Islamic historical part and the post-Islamic gate. In other words, the Azerbaijan museum houses artifacts ranging from five thousand years BC to the present day.

"El Golì" or "Sha Golì"
Tabriz iran
El Golì
One of the most popular leisure spots in Tabriz. El Golì is a sumptuous and luxuriant garden, once on the outskirts of the city which, however, with the enlargement of the urban fabric today is found within Tabriz. It is a garden with a 5,5-hectare pond in the center that contains something like 2000 cubic meters of water. This lake was called Sha Golì (Great Lake) and after the Islamic revolution it changed its name to “El Golì”.

Before the Safavid dynasty, it was actually a large reservoir for irrigating agricultural land east of Tabriz. In the Safavid period, however, the lake was fenced with stone walls and in the Qajaride period, flowers and trees were planted around it and roads were built to facilitate the movement of people. In the middle of the lake there is the beautiful direction of El Golì. It was built during the period of the Aq Quyunlu dynasty and expanded during the Safavid period, especially by Prince Qahreman Mirza.

Museum of the Revolution
Tabriz iran
Khane Mashrutè
In 1907, the Iranians rose up against the absolute monarchy and following a first revolution forced the Qajaride king to accept the constitutional monarchy, that is, the one with a parliament. Among the cities that played an important role in this revolution there was Tabriz and "Khane Mashrutè" was a sort of headquarters for the revolutionaries of that period. For this reason this house, since 1996, has been transformed into the Museum of the constitutional revolution and is a place where numerous and interesting documents on this phase of contemporary Iranian history are kept. This 1200 square meter palace was registered in the Iranian Cultural Heritage List in 1975. It even contains the clothes and personal objects of the leaders of the revolution, their letters, their documents, the newspapers of the time.

Several travel agencies, both Italian and Iranian, offer tours that pass through the city from the 7 wonders.