Persepolis and Shiraz

Shiraz and the old town:

The main attraction of Shiraz is undoubtedly the Arg of Karim Khan, the old citadel of the city. The 14 meter high walls are impressive as are its four old cornertowers, one of which is "dangerous" leaning forwards. The castle is located on the very busy and broad main street Karim Khan-e Zand boulevard which is simply called Sand after the dynasty that made the city important and the capital of ancient Persia.

The oldest mosque of the city and one of the oldest of Iran is the Jameh-ye Atigh Mosque. Later, the Vakil Mosque and the Nasir Al Molk Mosque were built. The Vakilmosque stands on the westside of the old Vakilbazaar. This bazaar spans an area of almost 9000 square meters and gained its current shape during the Sand Dynasty. Nearby is also the Vakilhammam.

Shiraz's main tombs are; Hafez Tombe, Saadi Tombe and Khwaju Kermani Tombe (in a mountain near the Koran Gate). The Sjah Tsjeragh is the city's most important shiite pilgrimage town. It houses the tombs of the brothers Amir Achmed and Mir Mohammed, sons of the seventh imam Moesa al-Kazim.

Persepolis:

Persepolis is a settlement built by Darius I. Originally called Parsa, Persepolis is the Greek name and means City of Persians. Unlike this Greek name suggests, Persepolis was not a city because no houses were found at the archaeological excavations in and around Persepolis.

Perepolis contained twelve buildings; the main building was the apadana (auditorium), where the sjahs held their audiences. During a big party, assuming the Persian New Year (Noroez), the nationals of the different populations came to offer "gifts" (ie taxes) to the shah.

Presenting the gifts is depicted in reliefs on the eastern stairs of the apadana. 23 different peoples paid their taxes to the Persian kings, they can be distinguished from their clothes and headdresses. That respect for the guests is, for example, seen at the height of the steps on the main entrance: the steps are very low (about 10 cm) and wide so that the guests in all dignity could enter the palace in their beautiful clothes . 

Alexander the Great

The Persian King's policy had major implications for the construction of Persepolis. The Persepolis Fortification Tablets, a collection of several thousands of clay tablets, illustrate the city and surrounding environment. We read about teams of slaves sent to the country for corvées, travelers on the royal roads, and many other details. It is striking that all the craftsmen from the Xerxes I government were paid for their work - in other words, the economy became monetary. In the event of an accident for the craftsmen, care was taken for their survivors; This made it possible for the best craftsmen to come to Persepolis from all over the world to help build the palace. The high quality of the work is especially seen in the details of the sculptures. 

The Apadana and the Treasury, the two buildings that were the symbol of the aforementioned celebration, and the Xerxes Palace were burned by Alexander the Great. According to tradition, he needed hundreds of (load) animals to get rid of the treasures. Archaeological research has found fragments of curtains. Carbon dating showed that the curtains indeed are from the fourth century BC. These remains can be seen in the museum made in the rebuilt residence of the Queens. The remaining buildings seem to have survived the firestorm: for example, the Darius palace and the Gate of all Nations, although now being in ruiins.  

Some antiquities from Persepolis can be found in the Louvre in Paris, the British Museum in London and the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels.

The city is mentioned for the first time as Tiraziš on Elamite clay tablets from 2000 BC found in June 1970 in the southwest corner of the city while digging for the construction of a stone oven. According to some Iranian mythological traditions, the city was originally founded by the first sjah, Tahmurath (Tahmuras), and the city was left later as a ruin. In the Achaemenid period, the city was on the route from Soesa to Persepolis and Pasargadae.

Inscriptions in a spell indicate that Shiraz should have been a decent place at that time. Under the Sassanids, Shiraz was on the road between Bishapur and Istakhr and formed a major regional center. The 10th century treaty Hudud al-'Alam talks about the presence of two fires. In 641, Shiraz was conquered by the Arab Empire and Islam was introduced as a religion. Shiraz was assigned to the Arabian government center in the province of Pars. In the 9th century, the city became known for its Shirazi wine (the 'best of the Middle East'), whose production stopped after the 1979 Islamic revolution. In 933, the Buyidian ruler Imad made al-Dawla (Ali ibn Buya) Shiraz to its capital.

He and his successors built mosques, palaces and a library. Literature, science, art and culture were promoted and religious minorities were treated well. Around the year 1000, after the attack by the Turkmen Seltsjuks by the Buyiden, a city wall was built around Shiraz. During the same period the Vakilbazaar was also built. The following 50 years, however, were characterized by wars with the Seltsjuks and internal Buyidian twists, destroying a large part of the city. In 1062, the Seltsjuks finally managed to conquer the city, but, in rejection of the caliphate, the new rulers quickly transcended Persian culture and many of them settled in Shiraz.

Eventually, the Seltsjuks became even important protagonists of Persian art and culture. Around 1075, the Seltsuk ruler Attabak reconstructed Jalal-ed-din and his sons restored Shiraz to her old grandeur. The development of the new city attracted many new immigrants, who came from all parts of Persia and also from central Asia. In 1280 the Mongols entered the area. However, local ruler Abu Bakr ibn Saad managed to save the city by paying a big amount and subjecting himself to Dzjengis Khan. This was so embrazed by the Persian ruler that he called him "Ktlug Khan" and regarded him as a friend. However, the high tax burden on the Mongols caused great damage to the city.

Corruption and mutual greed damaged the city accordingly. In the following decades more disasters happened. In 1357 the Muzaffaridian ruler Sjah Shuja came to power. He caused a revival of the city and was a great lover of Hafez. In 1382 he managed to save the city from robbery by sending the army of Timoer Lenk gifts.

In the 17th century the VOC opened a trading post in Shiraz and in 1705 the Dutchman Cornelis de Bruijn visited the city. There were several trading posts of the United East Indian Company (VOC) in the Middle East in the 17th and 18th centuries. In addition to the Portuguese, the VOC was the only Western power that ran into this area. It was goods like pearls, rose oil, silk, wool, arabic gum and incense that were used as trading material.

In this city, the VOC had until 1730 a wine house where wine was made. This house was a gift in the seventeenth century. There were also some VOC dealers in the city. After the Safavids were defeated by the Afghan Hotakids and the Afghans conquered the capital of Isfahan, Shiraz was looted in 1724 by the Afghans. The period after that also remained unrestricted in the country. In 1760 Karim Khan settled in the city and established the Zand dynasty, which led to a period of calmness.

Somewhere around 1760, he made Shiraz the capital of the country and rebuilt the city. He was determined to build Shiraz into a worthy capital, comparable to Isfahan at the time of Sha'h Abbas I. The city was divided into eleven residential areas (residential quarters), ten for Muslims and one for Jews. With the help of 12,000 workers, he also built a royal district with an arg (fort; the Arg of Karim Khan), many administrative buildings and one of Iran's most refined covered bazaars. He also built a mosque, hamams and caravanserais and built Persian gardens, irrigation and jubs (drainage channels).

Around 1860, after the Anglo-Persian War, Shiraz came to lie in the British sphere, which stretched out to south of Iran. Oil was found. The local Quashqai tribes in the mountains around the city fought the British. However, around 1880 their insurgency was dropped by the ruling Qavam family, supported by British-troops from the British Consulate in the city. After the Trans-Iranian Railroad was built in the 1930s, the city lost much of its influence in trade because the trade routes moved to Khuzestan ports.

Unspoilt city planning led to the demolition of a large number of historic buildings, including the half bazaar, a number of caravanserais and hammams, as well as the city wall. Since the Iranian Revolution, a lot of money has been spent on renovating monuments in the city.