Commerce, empire and faith in Safavid Iran: the caravanserai of Isfahan (original) (raw)

Iranian Hospitality: From Caravanserai to Bazaar to Reporting Symbolic Experience

EuroCHRIE 2008 Congress, Dubai, 2008

This paper reports case studies seeking to address one of the great problems of social science: namely, the extent to which is it possible or desirable accurately to report conscious experience. An interpretive ethnographic approach is used to address this problem. Caravanserais and bazaars in Iran have always offered multi-sensual experiences and represented aspects of symbolic interaction, as well as facilitating physical exchange, between travellers and locals. This is true in their origins, in their nineteenth and twentieth century usage, and in their contemporary roles which increasingly include heritage tourism accommodation or heritage retailing. Using two case studies the paper explores the role that hospitality has played and shows that it has been fundamental to their evolution and remains so, particularly for the commercial caravanserais and tea houses which now exist as refurbished heritage accommodation and restaurants.

IMPACTS OF URBAN PASSAGES ON FORMATION OF IRANIAN BAZAARS: Case Study of the Historic Bazaar of Tabriz

Bazaars have long since been of the most influential components of the traditional Iranian cities, having significant impacts on the formation and development of many Iranian cities. This study was motivated by the fact that the subject of bazaar and its mutual relationship with the formation of Iranian civilization has not yet been taken into account well. The study adapted an interpretive-historical research approach that utilized archival research as well as field studies and validated the findings through triangulation of findings with the seminal literature. It chose the historical bazaar of Tabriz as the case of study. Findings proposed that among the important components of the traditional Iranian cities, urban passages and organs have had the highest impacts on the formation and development of bazaars. The study concluded that in the context of Tabriz, traditional urban passages and the bazaar have had significant impacts on the formation of each other. This was a unique and significant study, which discovered new aspects of the important roles of bazaars in formation of Islamic cities and cultures. Research 62

Archi-Cultural Parallel of Persian and Turkish Bazaar Along the Silk Road Case Studies : Rey , Tabriz and Istanbul Bazaar

2012

History reveals that human beings were depending on each other for their survival on the earth. They had to exchange their commodity and goods for their various requirements. Everything was not available in one place; various materials were found in various places. Therefore, people had to travel to find out their needs and requirements. This was the way that a network for such traffic and transportation was developed and later on they called it the Silk Road. Most of the important intersections along the Silk Road were bazaars. This research focuses on the comparison of the physical layout and the culture of architecture of Iranian and Turkish traditional covered bazaars in the context of Rey, Tabriz and Istanbul. The analysis in this paper indicates that there are various similarities among the architecture of the bazaars along the Silk Road. These have been defined through comparison of various architectural elements, which has been used in both countries Iran and Turkey. In this...

Introduction: The Persianate Bazaar

Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 2021

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license. The collection of essays in this volume examines forms of business documentation in the late Persianate world and the Indian Ocean, between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries. Looking upon business in its broadest sense, the themes range from property disputes within families to inter-polity and inter-imperial deals, all of which is captured within the notion of the bazaar. Presenting documents and documentary forms written in Persian, but also the associated languages of Arabic, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi and Rajasthani, the articles collectively enrich the idea of the Persianate, delineating its specific dispensations within regional contexts, and also its boundaries and limitations. This is also a contribution to the study of Persographia, in this case Persianate rather than just Persian writing. The articles study specific language combinations, lexical elements and usages that came to be deployed in different areas and the legal cultures they provide evidence for.

Role of bazaars as a unifying factor in traditional cities of Iran: The Isfahan bazaar

A city is a vital organism that lives and grows like other organisms. Therefore, implementing development plans that would provide a sense of unity and integration in relation to the city as a whole is necessary. Traditional Iranian architecture is full of samples evolved during the course of Iranian history that can serve as architectural paragons of the city. In Iran's traditional cities, a sense of unity exists in various urban areas. The traditional city of Isfahan is one of the most valuable samples and was selected as the case study in this research. Accordingly, the most important questions of this research are as follows: (1) What is the role of bazaars in creating a sense of unity in the traditional cities of Iran? (2) How do bazaars play out their role in the integration of these cities? This research focuses on the concept of a “traditional city” to determine the role of bazaars in such cities. The results show that bazaars are crucial in giving a sense of integrity t...

Persian Bazaar and Its Impact on Evolution of Historic Urban Cores -the Case of Isfahan

The tourist usually prefers to visit a comfortable city but also do so because of its old monument. The study of urban history reveals that a variety of factors has influenced the development of ancient cities. Isfahan as one of these most significant historical cities plays a critical role in portraying the Social interactions and Islamic beliefs which has mainly drawn public attentions because of its distinct transformation of social structure by means of architecture and urbanization. By this means, Bazaar became known as a joint of social activities and cultural values, especially in Isfahan as a pre-capital city of Iran. As the most significant pedestrian network Bazaar plays an important role in the development and livability of Isfahan as an important traditional city. In this paper the historical development of the Bazaar of Isfahan will be explored based on its social context and subsequently the organization and the remarkable impact of this phenomenon on the formation of historical spots in Isfahan will be explained.

The Space Occupied by Marketplaces and Their Societies in the Islamic World -with Particular Reference to Isfahan and Istanbul

Islamic Area Studies with Geographic Information Systems: New Horizons in Islamic Area Studies (edited by A. Okabe) Routledge Curzon, pp. 221-240 , 2004

In this volume, the contributors use Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to reassess both historic and contemporary Asian countries and traditionally Islamic areas. This highly illustrated and comprehensive work highlights how GIS can be applied to the social sciences. With its description of how to process, construct and manage geographical/spatial data the book is ideal for the non-specialist looking for a new and refreshing way to approach Islamic area studies.

Safavid Ceramics Through the Eyes of European Travellers

JOURNAL OF ARTS

The ceramic industry of Safavid Iran (1501-1732) represents one of the high points of the production of pottery in the world, and especially in the Islamic World. The present study aims to investigate Safavid ceramics from the accounts of European travellers and study their accounts about various aspects of Safavid ceramics. In this regard, dozens of travelogues of the Europeans who travelled to Iran during the Safavid era were studied. Travellers' accounts on Safavid pottery that reflected in their travelogues, not only describes pottery as one of the distinguished Iranian industries, sometimes they also provide remarkable unique information about the pottery industry, the centers of manufacturing, trade, and export of pottery which are discussed in detail during the paper. This paper shows that travellers' accounts are significant to the study of Safavid ceramic arts history.

Historical Analysis of the Role of Bazaar on the Formation of Iranian Islamic Urban Forms; Case Study: Shiraz, Iran

2019

Iranian Islamic city is a physical entity that represents social, cultural and political mechanisms in the Iranian territory where forms, elements, and rules governing the interaction of the inhabitants and the environment are based on the Islamic worldview. Physical, functional, and spatial centers constitute the main form of the city. Also, Bazaar is one of the main elements of traditional Islamic-Iranian cities which has been originally developed for the fulfilment of commercial and manufacturing functions. The present study attempts to analyze these important factors in the formation process of Bazaar structure, as an important factor shaping the ancient Islamic Iranian cities, and to investigate the relationship of these changes with the changes of the urban community. In order to investigate the role of Bazaar in the integrity of the physical form and the main structure of historic cities of Iran in the present study, a combination of descriptive, historical, and comparative r...

The Macrotheme Review A multidisciplinary journal of global macro trends Persian Bazaar and Its Impact on Evolution of Historic Urban Cores- the Case of Isfahan

2014

The tourist usually prefers to visit a comfortable city but also do so because of its old monument. The study of urban history reveals that a variety of factors has influenced the development of ancient cities. Isfahan as one of these most significant historical cities plays a critical role in portraying the Social interactions and Islamic beliefs which has mainly drawn public attentions because of its distinct transformation of social structure by means of architecture and urbanization. By this means, Bazaar became known as a joint of social activities and cultural values, especially in Isfahan as a pre-capital city of Iran. As the most significant pedestrian network Bazaar plays an important role in the development and livability of Isfahan as an important traditional city. In this paper the historical development of the Bazaar of Isfahan will be explored based on its social context and subsequently the organization and the remarkable impact of this phenomenon on the formation of ...