Isfahan the Safavid Capital City of Shah Abbas

A UNESCO World Heritage Site Home to Chahar Bagh and Meiden – e Shah

Aug 23, 2009 Neil Gunn

Isfahan (Esfahan) in the Islamic Republic of Iran was chosen by the Safavid Shah Abbas (reigned 1587-1629) as his capital and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Safavid Empire dated from the rule of Shah Ismail (1501- 1524) until around the first quarter of the 18th century when the dynasty declined following attack from Afghan invaders.

Their vast territory covered most of what is now modern Iran but also extended into parts of Turkey and Georgia.

Shah Abbas

Shah Abbas was the fifth ruler of the Safavid Empire and through his vision and patronage he ushered in a golden artistic era.

In Isfahan, Shah Abbas’s chosen capital, a great cultural flowering saw the emergence of stunningly beautiful Islamic architecture, painting, carpet design, calligraphy, metalwork and exquisite silks.

Adding parks, libraries and mosques to this already intoxicating cocktail of artistic development gave Persia one of the world’s most beautiful cities.

Although a profusion of writing, prose and poetry, allow a glimpse into Persian society of the day, writer Francis Robinson said, “We can enter the world of the Safavids most readily, by looking at their painting… brought to its peak in a jewelled style of taut perfection.”

In its heyday Isfahan’s scale was impressive: 163 mosques, 48 madrasas, 1800 caravanserais, 273 public baths and a million citizens who made use of these remarkable facilities.

Little wonder the people of Isfahan called their city Nisf-e-Jahan, translated as “half the world” meaning that visitors to the city would see half the world.

Isfanan's Chahar Bagh

Two of the city’s main features were the Chahar Bagh a magnificent 4 kilometre long avenue lined by gardens and court residences and the Maidan (Meiden – e Shah) which UNESCO described in its rather dull bureaucratic language as a, “ homogenous urban complex built over a short time following a unique, coherent and harmonious plan…”

The Maidan was in fact a rectangular space, 507 metres long and 158 metres wide, surrounded by shops and filled with mosques and other important buildings. It was the focus of city life, a sports field, a place to mingle and discuss the pressing matters of the day and on occasions a place of execution.

Isfahan's Bazar

Isfahan was more than a city of culture and art it was also a city dedicated to commerce, the art of making money. The focus of business was the bazar, which grew from one end of the Maidan and snaked across the city in a series of labyrinthine walkways and tiny shops in which the artisans produced their goods.

It was a magnet for merchants from almost every corner of the world who, eager to take advantage of such a unique production line, thronged the bazar looking for bargains. One visitor described the bazar as, “The surprisingest piece of Greatness in honour of Commerce the world can boast of.”

It is impossible to do justice to the beauty of Isfahan in such a short article but perhaps to quote Robert Byron, an English traveller who visited in 1934, might be a fitting way to end.

He said, “The beauty of Isfahan steals on the mind unawares.”

Sources:

BBC online, Religion and Ethics – Islam

Shapour Ghasemi, Safavid Empire 1502-1736, Iran Chamber Society

Francis Robinson, Atlas of the Islamic world since 1500, pages 44-57

The British Museum, Shah Abbas, The remaking of Iran

UNESCO Advisory Body Evaluation, 1979

NB This writer has used the Persian spelling of the word bazar and the more common spelling of Isfahan and Maidan.

The copyright of the article Isfahan the Safavid Capital City of Shah Abbas in Middle Eastern History is owned by Neil Gunn. Permission to republish Isfahan the Safavid Capital City of Shah Abbas in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Isfahan Bazar