TEHRAN – A total of nine historical moveable properties in East Azarbaijan province have recently been inscribed on the national heritage list. 

The Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts announced the inscriptions on Thursday in a letter to the governor-general of the northwestern province, CHTN reported.

A royal silver coin, clay pot and jug, and a padlock were among the new properties added to the national heritage list.

The list also includes Sarab Jameh Mosque’s mihrab, a semicircular niche in the wall of a mosque that points out the qibla - the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca, a gold bracelet, and a clay seal. 

The historical objects are being kept in the Azarbaijan Museum in the capital city of Tabriz, which embraces several historical and religious sites, including the Jameh Mosque of Tabriz and Arg of Tabriz, and UNESCO-registered Tabriz Historic Bazaar Complex to name a few. 

Tabriz became the capital of the Mongol Il-Khan Mahmud Gazan (1295–1304) and his successor. Timur (Tamerlane), a Turkic conqueror, took it in 1392. Some decades later the Kara Koyunlu Turkmen made it their capital, it was when the famous Blue Mosque was built in Tabriz.

Tabriz retained its administrative status under the Safavid dynasty until 1548 when Shah Tahmasp I relocated his capital westward to Qazvin. During the next two centuries, Tabriz changed hands several times between Persia and the Ottoman Empire. During World War I, the city was temporarily occupied by Turkish and then Soviet troops.

ABU/AFM