Nishapur

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For the administrative subdivision, see Nishapur County.

Nishapur

‫ﻧﯿﺸﺎﺑﻮر‬

Neyshabur

City
 Seal

Nickname(s):

Sassanid and Umayyed era: Abarshahr (Upper Cities), Little

Damascus (byIbn Battuta)[1]

Nishapur

Coordinates: 36°12′48″N 58°47′45″ECoordinates:

36°12′48″N 58°47′45″E
 Country Iran
Province Razavi Khorasan Province
County Nishapur County

Foundation 3rd century

Municipality of Nishapur 1931

Government
• Mayor Seyed Abbas Hosseini
• Governor of County Gholam-Hossein Mozaffari

Elevation 1,250 m (4,100 ft)

Population
(2016 Census)
• Urban 264,375 [2]

Demonym(s) Nishapuri

Time zone UTC+03:30 (IRST)

Website neyshabur.ir

Nishapur or Nishabur ( pronunciation (help·info); Persian: ‫ﻧﯾﺷﺎﺑور‬,

also Romanized as Nīshāpūr, Nišâpur, Nişapur, Nīshābūr, Neyshābūr, and Neeshapoor,
from Middle Persian: New-Shabuhr, meaning "New City of Shapur", "Fair Shapur",[3] or "Perfect built
of Shapur")[4] is a city in Razavi Khorasan Province, capital of the Nishapur County and former capital
of Province Khorasan, in northeastern Iran, situated in a fertile plain at the foot of the Binalud
Mountains. It had an estimated population of 239,185 as of 2011 and its county 433,105. Nearby are
the turquoise mines that have supplied the world with turquoise for at least two millennia. The city
was founded in the 3rd century by Shapur I as a Sasanian satrapy capital. Nishapur later became
the capital of Tahirid dynastyand was reformed by Abdullah Tahir in 830, and was later selected as
the capital of Seljuq 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 were one of the four
great cities of Greater Khorasan and one of the greatest cities in the middle ages, a seat of
governmental power in eastern of caliphate, a dwelling place for diverse ethnic and religious groups,
a trading stop on commercial routes from Transoxiana and China, Iraq and Egypt.
Nishapur reached the height of its prosperity under the Samanids in the 10th century, but was
destroyed and the entire population slaughtered by Mongols in 1221. This massacre, combined with
subsequent earthquakes and other invasions are believed to have destroyed the pottery industry the
city was known for.

Contents

 1History
 2Culture
 3Arts
 4People
 5Education
 6Sport
 7Transportation
 8Industry and economy
 9Geography
 10Mass media
 11Administration
 12Popular culture
 13Recent incidents
 14Souvenirs
 15Sister cities
 16See also
 17References
 18Further reading
 19External links

History[edit]
Main article: History of Nishapur

This section needs expansion. You

can help by adding to it. (July 2017)

Pre-history and archaeology[edit]

Attar of Nishapur Mausoleum

Little archaeology has been done on this vast and complicated site. George Curzon remarked that
Nishapur had been destroyed and rebuilt more times than any other city in history,[5] an evocative
statement whether or not it is statistically true. The Metropolitan Museum of Art undertook
excavations from 1935 that were interrupted in 1940. Searching largely for museum-worthy trophies
that they shared with the government of the Shah, the Metropolitan's publications were limited to its
own Nishapur ceramics. The site of Nishapur has been ransacked for half a century since World War
II, to feed the international market demand for early Islamic works of art.
Shadiyakh ("Palace of Happiness") was one of the main palaces of old Nishapur up to the 9th
century AD, which became more important and populated after that. Some notable people
like Attarlived there. Attar's tomb is nowadays in that area. This palace was perhaps completely
ruined in the 13th century.
Middle Ages[edit]
Nishapur occupies an important strategic position astride the old Silk Road that linked Anatolia and
the Mediterranean Sea with China. On the Silk Road, Nishapur has often defined the flexible frontier
between the Iranian plateau and Central Asia. The town derived its name from its reputed founder,
the Sassanian king Shapur I, who is said to have established it in the 3rd century CE. Nearby are
the turquoise mines that supplied the world with turquoise for at least two millennia.
It became an important town in the Khorasan region but subsequently declined in significance until a
revival in its fortunes in the 9th century under the Tahirid dynasty, when the glazed ceramics of
Nishapur formed an important item of trade to the west. For a time Nishapur
rivaled Baghdad or Cairo: Toghrül, the first ruler of the Seljuk dynasty, made Nishapur his residence
in 1037 and proclaimed himself sultan there, but it declined thereafter, as Seljuk fortunes were
concentrated in the west. In the year 1000 CE, it was among the ten largest cities on earth.[6]
The city was destroyed by Mongols in 1221, after the husband of Genghis Khan's daughter was
killed at Nishapur. She requested the death of every resident of the city to avenge her husband's
death, and over the course of 10 days Khan's troops killed, and beheaded the entire population.
Their skulls were reputedly piled in pyramids by the Mongols.[7] After the massacre a much smaller
settlement was established just north of the ancient town, and the once bustling metropolis lay
underground—until a team of excavators from the Metropolitan Museum of Art arrived in the mid-
20th century. They worked at Nishapur between 1935 and 1940, returning for a final season in the
winter of 1947–48.[8] What remains of old Nishapur is a 3500-hectare "Kohandejh" area, south of the
current city of Nishapur.