Nishapur

For the administrative division of Razavi Khorasan province, see Nishapur County.

Nishapur
Persian: نیشابور
Abarshahr (اَبَرشهر), Raēvant (رَئِوَنْت),[1] Shadiyakh (شادیاخ)[2]
City
Neyshabur
Official seal of Nishapur
Seal
Nickname(s): 
Sassanid and Umayyed era: Abarshahr (Upper Cities), Little Damascus (According to Ibn Battuta),[3] The City of Turquoise, The City of Gardens
Nishapur is located in Iran
Nishapur
Nishapur
Nishapur is located in West and Central Asia
Nishapur
Nishapur
Coordinates: 36°12′22″N 58°47′36″E / 36.20611°N 58.79333°E / 36.20611; 58.79333[4]
CountryIran
ProvinceRazavi Khorasan
CountyNishapur
DistrictCentral
Historical RegionKhorasan
Founded5500 B.C.
Municipality of Nishapur1931
Founded byShapur I
Government
 • TypeGovernorate, Mayor & City Council
 • MayorHassan MereTatiKa
 • Governor of CountyMahdi Davandeh[5]
Elevation
1,250 m (4,100 ft)
Population
 (2016)[6]
 • City264,375
Demonym(s)Nishapuri, Nishaburi or Neyshaburi
Time zoneUTC+03:30 (IRST)
Area code051
Websiteneyshabur.ir
Member of the LHC and the ICCN

Nishapur or Neyshabur (Persian: نیشاپور, also نیشابورⓘ)[a] is a city in the Central District of Nishapur County, Razavi Khorasan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district.[10]

Nishapur is the second-largest city[11] of the province in the northeast of Iran, situated in a fertile plain at the foot of Binalud Mountain Range. It has been the historic capital of the Western Quarter[citation needed] of Greater Khorasan, the historic capital of the 9th-century Tahirid dynasty, the initial capital of the 11th-century Seljuk Empire, and is currently the capital city of Nishapur County and a historic Silk Road city[12] of cultural and economic importance in Iran and the region of Greater Khorasan.

Nearby are turquoise mines that have supplied the world with turquoise of the finest and the highest quality[13] for at least two millennia.

The city was founded in the 3rd century by Shapur I as a capital city of Sasanian satrapy known as Abarshahr or Nishapur.[14] Nishapur later became the capital of Tahirid dynasty and was reformed by Abdullah Tahir in 830, and was later selected as the capital of Seljuk 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, was one of the four great cities of Greater Khorasan and one of the greatest cities of the Old World in the Islamic Golden Age with strategic importance,[15] a seat of governmental power in the eastern section of caliphates, a dwelling place for diverse ethnic and religious groups and a trading stop on commercial routes from Transoxiana, China, Iraq[16] and Egypt.

Nishapur reached the height of its prosperity under the Samanids in the 10th century but was destroyed and most of its population was slaughtered by the Mongols in 1221. This massacre, combined with subsequent earthquakes[17] and other invasions, is believed to have destroyed the city several times. Unlike its near neighbor Merv, Nishapur managed to recover from these cataclysmic events, and survive until the present day as an active modern city and county in tourism, agriculture, health care, industrial production and commerce[18] in Razavi Khorasan Province of Iran; however, many of its older and historical archeological remains are left to be uncovered.

The modern city of Nishapur is composed of three main administrative areas/districts (Persian: منطقه های شهر نیشابور) and is surrounded by many villages which are joining in to the urban area and structure of the city. The Area/district 1 of the city comprises the newer urban developments (initiated mostly in the 1980s and the 1990s) made to the north of the Road 44 and is home to most of the main higher educational institutions of Nishapur such as the University of Neyshabur and the IAUN. The Area/district 2 of the city comprises the downtown of the city and the older and more historic urban structures situated on the south of the Road 44. It is home to some of the main tourists attractions of the city such as the National Garden of Nishapur and the Khanate Mansion of Amin Islami. The Area/district 3 of the city is home to the ruins and the remains of the ancient city of Nishapur destroyed by Mongols in the Middle Ages and is located on the south and the southeast of the city. The third district of the city is a national and registered protected archeological area by law[19] and any unauthorized archeological excavation is considered illegal. This district is also home to the burial and historical monuments (some are shown on the city infobox) of most of the renowned persons of the city throughout history such as the Mausoleum of Omar Khayyám[20] and the Mausoleum of Attar of Nishapur. The third district is also used as one of the main touristic hotspots of the city.

Many of this city's archeological discoveries are held and shown to the public in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the British Museum in London, the National Museum of Iran in Tehran, other international museums and the museums of the city of Nishapur.[21][22][23] The city of Nishapur is also a member of international organizations such as the LHC and the ICCN UNESCO.[24]

  1. ^ Originally in Avesta, though some regions near the West of the city are now called Reyvand (ریوند) which is directly derived from "Raēvant". Source: رنبغ دادگی (۱۳۹۰)، بندهش ترجمهٔ گزارنده مهرداد بهار، تهران: انتشارات توس، ص. ص۱۷۲
  2. ^ "شادیاخ". Dehkhoda Lexicon Institute and International Center for Persian Studies. University of Tehran.
  3. ^ The Cambridge History of Iran – Volume 1 – Page 68
  4. ^ OpenStreetMap contributors (3 November 2024). "Nishapur, Nishapur County" (Map). OpenStreetMap (in Persian). Retrieved 3 November 2024.
  5. ^ "فرماندار جدید نیشابور معرفی شد". irna.ir (in Persian). 28 September 2023. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference 2016 Razavi Khorasan Province was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ a b Nishapur can be found at GEOnet Names Server, at this link, by opening the Advanced Search box, entering "-3076915" in the "Unique Feature Id" form, and clicking on "Search Database".
  8. ^ "Municipality of Neyshabur". Municipality of Neyshabur.
  9. ^ Honigmann, E.; Bosworth, C.E.. "Nīs̲h̲āpūr." Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs. Brill Online, 2013. Reference. 31 December 2013
  10. ^ Habibi, Hassan (c. 2015) [Approved 21 June 1369]. Approval of the organization and chain of citizenship of the elements and units of the divisions of Khorasan province, centered in Mashhad. rc.majlis.ir (Report) (in Persian). Ministry of the Interior, Defense Political Commission of the Government Council. Proposal 3223.1.5.53; Approval Letter 3808-907; Notification 84902/T125K. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2024 – via Islamic Parliament Research Center.
  11. ^ "Statistical Center of Iran > Population and Housing Censuses". www.amar.org.ir. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  12. ^ Sardar, Marika (October 2001). "The Metropolitan Museum's Excavations at Nishapur". The Metropolitan Museum (July 2011 ed.).
  13. ^ "Turquoise Quality Factors". Gemological Institute of America.
  14. ^ H. Gaube (10 January 2014). "ABARŠAHR". Encyclopædia Iranica.
  15. ^ "NISHAPUR i. Historical Geography and History to the Beginning of the 20th Century". Encyclopædia Iranica. 17 September 2010.
  16. ^ "Sites of Encounter: Baghdad & Nishapur, 300-1200". UCLA Center X. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
  17. ^ Melville, Charles (1980). "Earthquakes in the History of Nishapur". Iran. 18: 103–120. doi:10.2307/4299694. ISSN 0578-6967. JSTOR 4299694.
  18. ^ Razavi Khorasan Bureau of Ministry of Roads & Urban Development of Iran. «The Comprehensive Scheme/Plan of Neyshabur in 1394 Solar Hijri» (in Persian). shahrsazionline.
  19. ^ "شهر قدیم نیشابور". Encyclopaedia of Iranian Architectural History. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  20. ^ "Omar Khayyam: The life of the astronomer-poet of Persia". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  21. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ "Nishapur". The British Museum.
  23. ^ "Coppa con decorazione calligrafica". Museum of Eastern Art in Italy (in Italian). 25 November 2015.
  24. ^ "ICCN Full Members | ICCN UNESCO". ICCN UNESCO (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 27 August 2021. Retrieved 24 April 2022.


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