Nishapur or Nishabur is a city in the Razavi Khorasan Province, capital of the
Nishapur County and former capital of Khorasan, in northeastern Iran, situated
in a fertile plain at the foot of the Mount Binalud. It had an estimated
population of 239,185 as of 2011 and its county 433,105. Nearby are the turquoise
mines that have supplied the world with turquoise for at least two millennia.
The city was founded in the 3rd century by Shapur I as a Sasanian satrapy
capital. Nishapur later became the capital of Tahirid dynasty and was
reformed by Abdullah Tahir in 830, and was later selected as the capital of
Seljuq dynasty by Tughril in 1037. From the Abbasid era to the Mongol invasion
of Khwarezmia and Eastern Iran, the city evolved into a significant cultural,
commercial, and intellectual center within the Islamic world. Nishapur,
along with Merv, Herat and Balkh were one of the four great cities of Greater
Khorasan and one of the greatest cities in the middle ages, a seat of
governmental power in eastern of caliphate, a dwelling place for diverse
ethnic and religious groups, a trading stop on commercial routes from
Transoxiana and China, Iraq and Egypt. Nishapur reached the height of its
prosperity under the Samanids in the 10th century, but was destroyed by
Mongols in 1221, and further ruined by other invasions and earthquakes in the
13th century. After that time, a much smaller settlement was established just
north of the ancient town, and the once bustling metropolis lay
underground—until a team of excavators from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
arrived in the mid-20th century. They worked at Nishapur between 1935 and
1940, returning for a final season in the winter of 1947–48. What remains of
old Nishapur region is a 3500-hectare "Kohandejh" area, south of the current
city of Nishapur. History
= Pre-history and archaeology= Little archaeology has been done on this
vast and complicated site. George Curzon remarked that Nishapur had been
destroyed and rebuilt more times than any other city in history, an evocative
statement whether or not it is statistically true. The Metropolitan
Museum of Art undertook excavations from 1935 that were interrupted in 1940.
Searching largely for museum-worthy trophies that they shared with the
government of the Shah, the Metropolitan's publications were limited
to its own Nishapur ceramics. The site of Nishapur has been ransacked for half
a century since World War II, to feed the international market demand for
early Islamic works of art. Shadiyakh was one of the main palaces of
old Nishapur up to the 9th century AD, which became more important and
populated after that. Some notable people like Attar lived there. Attar's
tomb is nowadays in that area. This palace was perhaps completely ruined in
the 13th century. = Middle Ages=
Nishapur occupies an important strategic position astride the old Silk Road that
linked Anatolia and the Mediterranean Sea with China. On the Silk Road,
Nishapur has often defined the flexible frontier between the Iranian plateau and
Central Asia. The town derived its name from its reputed founder, the Sassanian
king Shapur I, who is said to have established it in the 3rd century CE.
Nearby are the turquoise mines that supplied the world with turquoise for at
least two millennia. It became an important town in the
Khorasan region but subsequently declined in significance until a revival
in its fortunes in the 9th century under the Tahirid dynasty, when the glazed
ceramics of Nishapur formed an important item of trade to the west. For a time
Nishapur rivaled Baghdad or Cairo: Toghrül, the first ruler of the Seljuk
dynasty, made Nishapur his residence in 1037 and proclaimed himself sultan
there, but it declined thereafter, as Seljuk fortunes were concentrated in the
west. In the year 1000 CE, it was among the ten largest cities on earth.
After the husband of Genghis Khan's daughter was killed at Nishapur in 1221,
she or Genghis ordered the death of the entire population of the city, which was
reputedly 1.7 million. Their skulls were reputedly piled in pyramids by the
Mongols. This massacre, combined with subsequent earthquakes destroyed the
pottery industry. = Modern history=
In 1979, the 15th World Scout Jamboree was scheduled to be held in Nishapur,
but it was cancelled because of the uprising against the Shah of Iran led by
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini . = Toponymy=
Culture = Anthem=
The special Anthem of Nishapur was unveiled for the first time on April 14,
2011, an introduction and three parts,Frightening sound of bells,noted
on three invasive and destructive in the history of Nishapur,and sound of
percussion and wailing women represent the miseries caused by these attacks.
= Popular culture= US band Santana released an instrumental
track entitled "Incident at Neshabur" on their 1970 LP release, Abraxas.
Yo-Yo Ma released an instrumental track entitled "Blue as the Turquoise Night of
Neyshabur" as part of the Silk Road Project.
= Local and cultural days= Arts
About the arts in Nishapur or Old Nishapur:
= Pottery= Nishapur during the Islamic Golden Age,
especially the 9th and 10th centuries, was one of the great centers of pottery
and related arts. Most of Ceramic artifacts discovered in Nishapur
preserve in Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museums in Tehran and Mashhad.
Ceramics produced at Nishapur showed links with Sassanid art and Central
Asian. Nowadays there are 4 Pottery workshop in Nishapur.
= Carpet-weaving= Weaving carpets and rugs common in the
more than 470 villages in Nishapur County,the most important carpet
Workshop located in the villages of: Shafi' Abad, Garineh Darrud Baghshan
Kharv Bozghan Sayyed Abad Sar Chah Suleymani Sultan Abad and Eshgh Abad.
Nishapur Carpet workshops weaved the biggest Carpets in the world, like
carpets of : Sheikh Zayed Mosque, Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Armenian
Presidential Palace, Embassy of Finland in Tehran, Mohammed Al-Ameen Mosque in
Oman. Modern art of carpet in Nishapur began
in 1946 after inauguration of a carpet-weaving workshop in a
caravansary. = Turquoise masonry=
For at least 2,000 years, Iran, known before as Persia, has remained an
important source of turquoise, which was named by Iranians initially "pirouzeh"
meaning "victory" and later after Arab invasion "firouzeh". In Iranian
architecture, the blue turquoise was used to cover the domes of the Iranian
palaces because its intense blue colour was also a symbol of heaven on earth.
This deposit, which is blue naturally, and turns green when heated due to
dehydration, is restricted to a mine-riddled region in Nishapur, the
2,012-metre mountain peak of Ali-mersai, which is tens of kilometers from
Mashhad, the capital of Khorasan province, Iran. A weathered and broken
trachyte is host to the turquoise, which is found both in situ between layers of
limonite and sandstone, and amongst the scree at the mountain's base. These
workings, together with those of the Sinai Peninsula, are the oldest known.
= Tile= In many important historical or modern
monuments and buildings the art of Tiles are widely used in Nishapur,
= Wooden arts= = Calligraphy=
= Statuary= = Wall Painting=
People = Language=
Most people speak Persian in Nishapur. Khorasani Turkic, Kurdish and Arabic are
also spoken. = Religion=
Islam is first religion and Twelever Mahdist Shia is first Madhab in
Nishapur. = Notable people=
Sorted by date Mazdak - was a Zoroastrian prophet,
Iranian reformer and religious activist Kanarang - was a unique title in the
Sassanid army, given to the commander of the Sassanid Empire's northeasternmost
frontier province, Abarshahr. Behafarid - was an 8th-century Persian
Zoroastrian heresiarch Sunpadh - cleric
Ishaq Ibn Rahwayh - muhaddith, faqih Abu al-Abbas Iranshahri - 9th-century
philosopher, mathematician, natural scientist, historian of religion,
astronomer and author Ibn Khuzaymah - Muslim scholar
Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj - Muslim scholar Abu al-Hassan al-Amiri - was a Muslim
theologian and philosopher Abū al-Wafā' Būzjānī - was a
mathematician and astronomer Hakim al-Nishaburi -, was a Sunni
scholar and historian Tha'ālibī -(961–1038), Muslim
philologist, writer and poet Ahmad ibn 'Imad al-Din - was a Persian
physician and alchemist. He was probably from Nishapur in the 11th century.
Ibn Abi Sadiq - was an 11th-century Persian physician
Abū-Sa'īd Abul-Khayr - was a famous Persian Sufi and poet
Al-Juwayni was a Sunni Shafi'i Faqih and Mutakallim.
Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Tha'labi - was an 11th-century Islamic scholar.
Abd al-Karīm ibn Hawāzin Qushayri - was born in 986 CE,Philosopher and Sufi
Omar Khayyám - was a Persian polymath, philosopher, mathematician, astronomer
and poet. Mu'izzi - was an 11th and 12th-centuries
poet Haji Bektash Veli - was a Muslim mystic
Attar of Nishapur -,was a Muslim poet, theoretician of Sufism, and hagiographer
Abu al-Qasim al-Habib Neishapuri - physician mid-15th century.
Saadat Ali Khan I - was the Subahdar Nawab of Oudh. All the rulers of Oudh
State in India belonged to a Shia Muslim dynasty of Persian origin from Nishapur.
They were renowned for their secularism and broad outlook. After they rebelled
against the British their state was annexed to form the United Provinces of
Agra and Oudh. Hamid Hussain Musavi - i was a leading
Shia scholar Heydar Yaghma -
Badi' - Abolghasem Sakhdari - wrestler
Saeed Khani - footballer Yaghoub Ali Shourvarzi - wrestler
Nur-Ali Shushtari - Esmail Shooshtari -
Parviz Meshkatian - Mohammad-Reza Shafiei Kadkani - i is a
Persian writer, poet, literary critic, editor, and translator.
Hossein Vahid Khorasani - born January 1, 1921) is an Iranian Twelver Shia
Marja Abdolreza Kahani -
Hamed Behdad - Actor Education
= Schools, universities and colleges= Islamic Azad University of Nishapur is a
main branch of Islamic Azad University. It was established in 1985 and has two
faculties in IAUM, Agriculture, and Engineering faculty offers Bachelor, and
Master degrees. = Libraries=
Al-Ghadir library:Moalem street Sport
Nishapur has one professional football team, Jahan Electric Nishapur, who
compete in Razavi Khorasan's Provincial Leagues.
= Sport centers= Enghelab Sports Complex is an indoor
arena in Nishapur. The arena houses Nishapur's basketball, volleyball, and
futsal teams. Transportation
= Nishapur train disaster= On 18 February 2004, runaway train
wagons crashed into the village of Khayyam near Nishapur, causing an
explosion and killing over 300 people. The entire village of Khayyam was
destroyed. = Road 44=
Road 44 is a highway that goes from Tehran to Mashhad and also passes
Nishapur on the way. Industry and economy
Foolad steel complex which is producing steel.
Geography Nishapur is located at an elevation of
1213 metres on a wide fertile plain almost at the southwestern foot of Mount
Binalud in northcentral Razavi Khorasan Province. The city is connected by both
railroad and highways to Mashhad and Tehran and also to South Khorasan
Province. Among its agricultural products are cereals and cotton. Making
pottery and weaving carpets are among important crafts.
= Weather= Nishapur has a generally Mediterranean
climate with the rainy seasons mostly in the spring and winter. Towards the west
of the city, however, the weather gradually changes to a cold semi-desert
climate. = Geology=
The city of Nishapur lies on a Holocene alluvial plain on top of the Pleistocene
sediments in the southwestern part of the Binalud Mountains. The Binalud
Range, running northwest-southeast, is made predominantly of Triassic and
Jurassic rocks. On the southern side of the northwestern part of the range there
is a section of Eocene rocks that are volcanic in origin. The well-known
Nishabur turquoise comes from the weathered and broken trachytes and
andesites of the Eocene volcanic rocks of this part of the mountain range. The
main turquoise mines are situated about 50 kilometres northwest of the city of
Nishapur in the vicinity of the village of Madan.
= Seismicity= Nishapur is located in a region with a
rather high risk of earthquakes. Many earthquakes have seriously harmed the
city; among the important ones are the historical earthquakes that ruined the
city in the 12th and 13th centuries. Mass media
= Newspaper publishing= General publications in Nishapur
includes the weekly and local newspapers. The first local newspaper of
Khorasan province is Morning of Nishapur, published since 1989. Others
include Shadiakh, published since 2000, Khayyam Nameh, since 2004, Nasim, since
2006, and Far reh Simorgh, since 2010. = Broadcasting=
IRIB center of Mashhad covers news of Nishapur.
= Printing= Two book publishers working in the
city:Klidar & Abar Shahr. Administration
Popular culture US band Santana released an instrumental
track entitled "Incident at Neshabur" on their 1970 LP release, Abraxas.
Recent incidents On July 24, 1987, a flood in Boojan
village killed over 1,000 people and destroyed some villages.
On February 18, 2004, in the Nishapur train disaster, a train carrying
flammable goods derailed and caught fire near the town. Five hours later, during
fire fighting and rescue work, a massive explosion destroyed the train and many
nearby buildings. Around 300 people were said to have been killed, mainly fire
and rescue workers but also the local governor and mayor and the heads of the
fire and rail services. Souvenirs
The most important Nishapur souvenirs include turquoise and rhubarb.
Neyshabur Turquoise has been used for more than 2000 years and for this
turquoise it is sometimes called "the turquoise land". Neyshabur turquoise and
jewellery made from it are sold as souvenirs in Neyshabur and Mashhad
resorts. Rhubarb, a sour vegetable, grows at the
foot of the eponymous Rivand Mountains. Soft drinks made from the stems of the
plant, such as "Sharbate rivaas" and "Khoshaabe rivaas", are sold at some
Nishapur resorts as souvenirs. Sister cities
References Further reading
Wilkinson, Charles K.. Nishapur: pottery of the early Islamic period. New York:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 0870990764.
External links Nishapur Mayors
Nishapur governors Ceramics of Nishapur and other centers
World Gazetteer on Nishapur Neyshaburian e-newspaper
A useful weblog about Nishapur wooden village website
Nishapur Mathhouse Neyshabur bonyad
Elias Pirasteh, Neyshabur, Photo Set, flickr
Ardavan Ruzbeh, When National Heritage is not an equal to the Emām-Jom'eh, a
reportage on the demolition of a national monument, Madreseh-ye Golshan,
in Nishabur, in Persian, Radio Zamāneh, May 29, 2008: Text, Audio.
Hossein Davoudi, Dizbād: A Staircase to History, in Persian, Jadid Online,
2008.A Slide Show of Dizbād, by Hossein Davoudi, Jadid Online, 2008,.Note:
Dizbād is a small village between Mashhad and Neyshābūr, located at some
40 km distance from Mashhad.