Do you know Tabriz city?

The capital of East Azarbaijan (or Aturpatgan) province, the land of the nobles of Iran.

Tabriz is the capital of one of the most famous provinces of Iran, The Azarbaijan or Aturpatgan. It is the land of Azargoshnasp temple; the fire temple of the Kings and the Nobles of Iran. It is perhaps the birth place of Zaratushtra.

Tabriz, Being the provincial capital of East Azarbaijan ( Aturpatgan ), has slightly more than 1,700,000 population and was the second largest city in Iran until the early 1970"s.

Tabriz has been the capital city of Iran on numerous times throughout the old history of this country. Tabriz is located in a valley to the north of the beautiful Mount Sahand.

The valley opens out into a plain that slopes down gently to the northern end of Lake Orumieh, about 60 km to the west. Tabriz is 310 km southeast of Bazargan (Iranian-Turkish frontier); 159 km south of Jolfa on Iran- Aran (Azarbaijan Republic) border, and can be reached by very good roads, rail (742km from Tehran, with connections to the Europe and Moscow), and air from Tehran and other major cities.

The city has a long and turbulent history although the early history of Tabriz is shrouded in legend and mystery, the town"s origin is believed to date back to distant antiquity, perhaps even before the Sassanian era (224 - 651 A.D.).

The oldest stone tablet with a reference to Tabriz is that of Sargon the second, the Assyrian King. The tablet refers to a place called Tauri Castle and Tarmkis.

The historians believe this castle was situated on the site of the present day Tabriz.

It was the capital of Azarbaijan in the 3rd century A.D. and again under the Mongol Ilkhanid dynasty (1256 - 1353), although for some time Maragheh supplanted it.