Shanb-e-Ghazan, Ghazaniyya, or Sham-e-Ghazan (local pronunciation: Sham-Ghazan) (persian: شنب غازان) is one of the historical neighborhoods of

Tabriz Tabriz (; ) is a city in the Central District (Tabriz County), Central District of Tabriz County, in the East Azerbaijan province, East Azerbaijan province of northwestern Iran. It serves as capital of the province, the county, and the distric ...

, Iran. Shanb-e-Ghazan's historical importance is mostly due to construction of the Ghazan Mausoleum, a complex made by the

Ilkhanid The Ilkhanate or Il-khanate was a Mongol khanate founded in the southwestern territories of the Mongol Empire. It was ruled by the Il-Khans or Ilkhanids (), and known to the Mongols as ''Hülegü Ulus'' (). The Ilkhanid realm was officially known ...

emperor in late 13 and early 14th century.

History

At the time of the Ilkhanate and

Arghun Arghun Khan ( Mongolian Cyrillic: Аргун; Traditional Mongolian: ; c. 1258 – 10 March 1291) was the fourth ruler of the Mongol empire's Ilkhanate division, from 1284 to 1291. He was the son of Abaqa Khan, and like his father, was a de ...

Khan's kingdom in 1290, Shanb-e-Ghazan grew from a village named Shanb or Sham into a large and populous town named Arghuniyye. The main parts of this construction included a

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

temple (Arghun was a Buddhist) and a palace named Adiliyya. At the time of king

Mahmud Ghazan Mahmud Ghazan (5 November 1271 – 11 May 1304) (, Ghazan Khan, sometimes westernized as Casanus was the seventh ruler of the Mongol Empire's Ilkhanate division in modern-day Iran from 1295 to 1304. He was the son of Arghun, grandson of Abaqa Kh ...

, Ghazan Khan, Shanb-e-Ghazan evolved into a large satellite city of Tabriz called Ghazaniya. The neighborhood reached its greatest prosperity at this time. In late 1297 Ghazan Khan built his unique Tomb called Qubba-ye-Aali (Big Dome) in the central part of the town. As he was very interested in benevolence, he ordered the construction of twelve public institutions in all twelve sides of this building which consisted of: a jami mosque, a

khanqah A Sufi lodge is a building designed specifically for gatherings of a Sufi brotherhood or ''tariqa'' and is a place for spiritual practice and religious education. They include structures also known as ''khānaqāh'', ''zāwiya'', ''ribāṭ'' ...

, a

Hanafi The Hanafi school or Hanafism is the oldest and largest Madhhab, school of Islamic jurisprudence out of the four schools within Sunni Islam. It developed from the teachings of the Faqīh, jurist and theologian Abu Hanifa (), who systemised the ...

school, a

Shafi'i school The Shafi'i school or Shafi'i Madhhab () or Shafi'i is one of the four major schools of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), belonging to the Ahl al-Hadith tradition within Sunni Islam. It was founded by the Muslim scholar, jurist, and traditionis ...

, Dar Al Siyadah, an

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. Th ...

, a

hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

, a

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

, Beit Al Qanun, Beit-al-Motavalli (house of trustees), pool house, and bathroom. There were other buildings such as an

orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or abusi ...

and Hakimiyya around this building. Ghazan Khan's Dome with its 135 meters height astonished visitors; Shanb-e-Ghazan's other buildings became a scientific - cultural centre of its era. According to Ghazan Khan's order, foreign merchants should pass through and stay in Shanb-e-Ghazan in order to enter Tabriz. The tax receipts of Ojan province and some villages, and one-tenth of objects entered into the treasury were allocated to Ghazaniyya. These factors all together made it a town that was unique throughout Iran (Mostofi- Nuhzat al Qoloub). In later centuries, beside scientific cultural activities in this town, because of its strategic importance the land of this area was used as a battlefield of different countries. At the time of Safavid it became more importance and Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha,

Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman I (; , ; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the Western world and as Suleiman the Lawgiver () in his own realm, was the List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman sultan between 1520 a ...

's minister, after occupying Tabriz built a castle in Shanb-e-Ghazan which was used later by Safavid and Ottoman Empire. Ottomans called Shanb-e-Ghazan "Dar Al Aman" (Safe Place); however

Shah Abbas I Abbas I (; 27 January 1571 – 19 January 1629), commonly known as Abbas the Great (), was the fifth Safavid shah of Iran from 1588 to 1629. The third son of Shah Mohammad Khodabanda, he is generally considered one of the most important rulers ...

of Safavid in order to prevent Ottomans' inhabitancy ordered the destruction of all Ghazani buildings except for the Tomb, Mosque, Khanqah, and probably one of the schools. The earthquakes of 1641, 1650, and 1721 wrought much destruction upon Shanb-e-Ghazan and its buildings, and reduced its residential area. The earthquake of the first morning of 1780 buried the remaining buildings. Thus from Ghazaniyyah just the south east part of it has remained. Shanb-e-Ghazan's antiquities because of the inadvertence of Qajar and Pahlavi government has been despoiled and it has led to this point that nowadays in this historical neighborhood there are no historical remains except for a bathroom and some scattered tiles.

References

{{coord missing, East Azerbaijan Province Districts of Tabriz