The Bazaar City — Iran's fourth-largest city and the ancient capital of East Azerbaijan province, whose UNESCO-listed covered bazaar is the largest in the world, a labyrinthine city-within-a-city of merchant domes, caravanserais, and craft guilds unchanged since the Mongols rebuilt it
Tabriz is Iran's fourth-largest city and the capital of East Azerbaijan province — a city that has been at the crossroads of the Silk Road, the Mongol Empire, the Safavid dynasty, and the Russian-British 'Great Game' in the Caucasus. The Tabriz Historic Bazaar Complex is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the largest covered bazaar in the world: a network of interconnected caravanserais, mosques, banks, and craft guild halls covering 7 km² of covered streets, most dating to the 13th–15th centuries. Distinct 'rasteh' (covered lanes) are dedicated to specific guilds — carpet merchants, coppersmit…
Tabriz appears in historical records from the 3rd century CE and became significant under the Mongol Ilkhanate (1256–1335), which made it the capital of Persia — at its height under Ghazan Khan (1295–1304), it was the largest city in the world west of China, with a population estimated at one million. The Jalayirids and then Timurids used Tabriz as a regional capital; the Blue Mosque was built under the Black Sheep Turkmen (Kara Koyunlu) ruler Jahan Shah in 1465. The Safavid Empire was proclaimed in Tabriz in 1501 by Shah Ismail I, who made it the first Safavid capital until repeated Ottoman…