City Road Aesthetics: Bursa And Tabriz

Tabriz, the historic capital of the Azerbaijan region, is built on a fertile plain fed by the Bitter Stream, which rises in Mount Sawalan and flows northeast from Lake Urmia.  The high peaks of Karaca Mountain surround the city, while the Maydan River, which branches off from the Bitter Stream, bisects it. Tabriz is the city of earthquakes. It is known for sieges and plundering. It is a city of elegance and rose-scented gardens crowned with architectural masterpieces. Tabriz is also a city of silk.

Thinking about Tabriz takes us on a journey through the ancient lands of human history. We go to Anatolia, where the ancient Greek city-states and the Persian kingdom ruled. Caravans departing from Iran reached the Aegean Sea via the 3000 kilometer long King’s Road. The global map connecting the Far East and the Mediterranean was completed in the time of Alexander and the powerful Chinese dynasties, who traveled deep into Asia. Connecting Iran to China in the east and Europe in the west, the road that would come to be known as the Silk Road would define the function and skyline of all the cities around it throughout its historical development.

Caravan routes that had previously used the Baghdad route began to pass through Tabriz in the 13th century. When the city became an international market as a crossroads of the Silk Road, silk production began, trade revived, and wealth increased. As a result of exchanges and relations with the Far East, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, the city’s population reached 300,000 in the 13th century. At that time, neither the merchant-banker Mediterranean cities nor Paris and London had such a population. The covered bazaar, the heart of the city, is a complex structure of main axes, side streets, mosques, caravanserais, and countless shops. In this center of production and trade, merchants, municipal employees, imams, muhtasips (Ottoman constabulary-officials for public order), craftsmen and artists were organized in guilds.

In the 13th century it became the capital of the Mongols. In 1299, the Mongol Ghazan Khan first raised the city walls of Tabriz to 25,000 steps (gam), and then the neighborhoods of Kuh-i Waliyan and Sanjaran were added to the city walls. In these neighborhoods, buildings known for their fine work were constructed. In the same period, Tabriz became an important center of Islam. Between the 14th and 17th centuries, it was the capital of the Safavid dynasty. The Gok Masjid, built by Karakoyunlu Jahan Shah for Begum Khatun, is the most attractive building of this period. Although Tabriz lost its capital status in the 17th century under the rule of Akkoyunlu, it maintained an active commercial life as the central settlement of Azerbaijan. Especially during the reign of Uzun Hasan; mosques, madrasas, caravanserais, hospitals, roads, bridges and Sahip – Abad Square were built. At first glance, Sahip – Abad, which is perceived as a continuation of the bazaar, is a public square where political, social and cultural activities took place.  With this feature, it is reminiscent of the square models of Western cities, not Islamic ones. Surrounding the square are the gardens of the same name and the “bazaar majmu’a” (the collection of buildings that make up the bazaar), as it is called in Persian.  Uzun Hassan’s son Yakub built the Hasht Bihisht Palace in the gardens of Shahibabad. A large harem, a mosque, a large square and a hospital with a capacity of 1000 patients were also built.

Throughout its history, political strife, wars with the Mongols and Ottomans, plundering, embargoes, earthquakes, and epidemics required the city to be rebuilt again and again. Nevertheless, this important center of the pre-industrial world lost its international importance only after the Silk Road and the silk trade fell out of favor. The reason for this phenomenon is that the modern world, in which goods produced in the industrialized centers of the West are traded, has radically transformed the old imperial orders, forms of trade, and urban realities.

[1] Pirooz Hanachi; Solmaz Yadollahi, 2011,“Tabriz, Historical Bazaar in the Context of Change”,  http://openarchive.icomos.org/1331/1/V-1-C-Article4_Hanachi_Yadollahi.pdf, Mart 2018

[2] Amin Adelzadeh, 2016, “Social Dimensions of Bazaar in Historical Cities of Iran: The Tabriz Bazaar, http://www.theijes.com/papers/v5-i5/G0505036044.pdf

In the first phase of this study, Tabriz in general and the Tabriz Bazaar in particular will be analyzed on the basis of socio-economic, political, cultural and urban transformations since the 14th century.

Bursa, one of the most important commercial centers connecting Tabriz to the West, will be included in the second phase of the study. Founding Cities: Bursa and Florence Workshop, Bursa, which has been discussed with its dynamics between the 14th and 16th centuries, will be examined this time with the conditions that brought it to modernity. In the third phase of the study, Bursa and Tabriz, which share a woven destiny with the durable threads of silk, will be compared on the basis of similarities and differences.

The city will be explained on the axis of the bazaar and the square and street.

Objectives

The aim is to provide original information and bibliography, which can be obtained by analyzing the city experiences formed in history on the axis of change and by mutual comparison.

Significance and Rationale

The analysis of the urban history and space of Bursa and Tabriz will be a valuable and original contribution to the postmodern city exercise.

Target Audience

Benefits will be generated for academics, researchers, students, city administrators, and enthusiasts.

Method and implementation steps

The workshop will follow a multi-step process. First of all, a meeting will be held at the City Thinking Center to discuss the draft of the workshop. Two conferences will be held in Esenler Culture and Art Programs by determining from the proposed academicians. Bursa and Tabriz technical inspection trips will be organized. There will be a Tabriz tour program in October. Then there will be a process of information exchange and discussion in panel form. The workshop will be completed with a draft meeting, two conferences, two trips, a compilation book printing after a panel and a book promotion seminar.

[2] V. Minorsky, “Tabriz”, 2007, Historic Cities of the İslamic World içinde, Edmund Bosworth; Sheila Blair (ed,), Boston: Leiden, s:486-497

Attendees

Persons                                                              Fields

Prof. Aynur Atmaca Can                              Executive

Dr. Nurettin Nebati                                       Executive

Dr. Funda Budak                                             Executive

Ihsan Aktas                                                       Attendee

Cihan Aktas                                                       Attendee

Prof. Mustafa Kara                                        Attendee / Conference

Prof. Teoman Durali                                      Attendee / Conference

Prof. Cemal Kafadar                                      Attendee / Conference

Meltem Bali                                                      Assistant / Conference