Pars Today

Welcome to this week's episode of the series "Tabriz, 2018". Today, we become familiar with a number of historical houses in the city of Tabriz.

One of the best known historical houses of Tabriz is situated in an old neighborhood of this city, in front of Ja'ameh Mosque. At the first glance, the Qajarid-era architectural style of this house meets the eye. Given the elevated and prominent status of the city of Tabriz in Iran's Constitutional Revolution, and the role that this house played throughout Constitutional Revolution, it was turned into a museum in the year 1996, displaying valuable items, which have remained from the leaders of the Constitutional Revolution and that phase in time. The house is popularly known as "Khaneye Mashrouteh".

This house is among the historical monuments, remaining from the Qajarid era, which after the destruction of the Iranian parliament in the solar Iranian calendar year of 1287, turned into the place of gathering of a number of renowned Constitutionalists such as Sattar Khan and Baqer Khan. The house was owned by one of the freedom-seeking, and well-known traders of the city of Tabriz, Haaj Mahdi Kouzeh Kanani, and was constructed in the year 1868 AD. Upon the development of the Constitutional Revolution in Tabriz, Haaj Kanani joined the Constitutionalists and became one of the main financial supporters of the Constitutional Revolution.

This historical monument is a two-story house, with an Andaruni – where women of the house were free to move about without being seen by an outsider – and a Birouni – which was a part of the house belonging to men. The house maintains a Qajarid-era architectural style, with a foundation of 1300 square meters, and is made of stones and sun-dried mud bricks. Upon entering the house, one views a beautiful courtyard and a large pond, in addition to green spaces, covered with flowers and a lawn, granting a unique freshness to this home. There is a light well which is located on four long pillars. On the top of each of these pillars, there are column capitals that are decorated with plasterworks, colorful glasses and pieces of mirror. On the first floor, there are six chambers, while on the second floor, there is a large hall, in addition to six other chambers. There are sash windows in the house, which are in red, green, and white colors. The side chambers maintain wooden roofs and are covered with octagonal decorations.

A number of changes were made in the chambers of this house, to turn it into a museum, displaying the historical documents, related to the Constitutional Revolution. A number of statues, depicting the leading figures of the Constitutional Revolution are on display in this museum, as well as the rubberstamps of different revolutionary groups.

A number of snapshots of the Qajarid Kings, Mozafar Ed-Din Shah, and Mohammad Ali Shah, as well as the photos of historical documents, belonging to the Constitutional Revolution are on display in this museum.

There is another historical house in the city of Tabriz, popularly known as "Khaneye Heydarzadeh", which is situated at the southern corner of this city's Municipality. There is no historical document available which would specify the date of construction of this building. However, studies show that this historical house was constructed in 1870 AD. Its area stands at 900 square meters and it is a two-story building. The house consists of an Andaruni and a Biruni.

At the basement of this house, there is a large chamber, with a large pond in its middle, which is decorated with colorful bricks and shelves. Other parts of this house are interconnected via a corridor. This house maintains wooden windows and is decorated with colorful glasses and paintings. The house was renovated in the year 2001. It was also enlisted among Iran's national heritages in the year 1999.

One of the other historical houses of the city of Tabriz is known as "Khaneye Behnam" which belongs to the waning years of the rule of Zandieh Dynasty and the early years of Qajarid era. This house was a residential building, which was renovated during the reign of Qajarid King, Naser Ed-Din Shah, and decorated with beautiful paintings. Its area stands at 3,000 square meters. It is comprised of two buildings; with the main building used as a winter quarter and the smaller building used as a summer quarter. There is also an Andaruni and a Biruni in this house.

Currently, this historical monument is used as a Faculty of Architecture and Urban Development. It was enlisted among Iran's national heritages in the year 1997.

Another historical house in the city of Tabriz is known as "Khaneye Salmasi" which has turned into a museum. It is located in the vicinity of municipality and was constructed in the early years of Qajarid era in two floors, and a foundation standing at 870 square meters. In this museum, a variety of weighing devices such as steelyard balance, goldsmiths' scales, and a variety of Iranian and foreign-made watches, in addition to measurement tools related to the sciences of astronomy and meteorology are on display.

MR/ME