The holy city among the sacred for the Shia. On the front of the station, catching a taxi proves to be a fun test. Here, the operation is very special. In a small round cabin, a man shouts numbers in his microphone. The game is to catch one and then to find the taxi driver with the same number! This principle is also found at Machhad Bus station. From the very first moment in the city, we measure its importance. After the desert stretches crossed, it is surprising to find an active living centre. Rather, the streets resemble boulevards, a sense of greatness throughout the city, including the vision of Imam Reza's impressive religious complex. In shops, behind the hotel counter, in restaurants, cultural and ethnic mix predominates. Reach in a vast plain open to the harsh winters and relatively cool summers, the great Holy City of the Shia, capital of the province of Khorassan razavi populated with 2,8 million inhabitants (suburbs included), is the second largest part of the country after Tehran. Located close to Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, it will benefit from the passage of the caravan routes linking the Central Asian plains, India, China, the Persian Gulf and the Oman Sea. Upon the death in 817 of Ali Reza, eighth imam of the Prophet and grandson of the Prophet, his mausoleum quickly became the most famous holy places of Iran's islamized, attracting pilgrims from the entire Shia Muslim world, from Pakistan to the Middle East. Every year, more than 20 million pilgrims enter the heart of the sacred perimeter, Iranians, Arabs, Pakistanis and Indians. The rise in the power of the pilgrimage stimulated the development of the city. A devout and modern city, Machhad surprises and contrasts largely with the more provincial atmosphere of Qom, the other pilgrimage centre in Iran, south of Tehran. The administrative and economic capital of North-East Iran is also one of the country's major industrial hubs. Since the Islamic Revolution, the rich religious and agro-food foundations have indeed invested heavily in road, rail and real estate infrastructure. The first floor is devoted to the turquoise shops. The provinces of Khorassan are known for the quality of their stones. Jewellery traditionally constituted an important part of the work of the paymaster and the goldsmith. While heavy jewels impregnated with semi-precious stones of Turkmen tribes have become rarer today, the gold market remains flourishing. Also, remember the polisseurs and tailors at work. And, of course, the religious crafts for pilgrims, the main source of income for the city. In addition to imitation objects, take a look at carpets, beautiful fabrics, or agricultural products such as honey, nuts or very cheap saffron on site.HistoryWhile the region already played an important role in ancient Persia, it was in the Islamic era that the Khorassan knew the greatest influence, thanks to the brilliant cultural centres of Nishapur, Foetus, Merv (Turkmenistan), Herat (Afghanistan) and Balkh (Camel), ruined successively by invasions. Indeed, it was Balkh that Alexander married Darius's daughter. Machhad's reputation stems from the martyrdom of the eighth Shi'a Imam in 817 from the Christian era. At the time of the abbasid abbasid, the municipality is only a small village in the name of Sanabad. The great caliph Harun al-Rashid, before his death in 809, divides the Abbasid Empire between each son. By political calculation, one of his sons, al-Mamun, chooses in his turn the eighth imam of the Shia, Ali Reza. In 816, he was to join al-Mamun in his capital, Merv, the present Mary, in Turkmenistan. During a stopover in the village of Sanabad, Imam Ali Reza died suddenly after a meal before being buried in Foetuses alongside his own father Harun al-Rashid. Soon, the rumor of Ali Reza poisoning by caliph circulates. The tomb of the hapless imam, called Machhad («place of martyrdom»), draîne many Shi'ite pilgrims after Najaf and Kerbala, located in Iraq. In 944 the mausoleum will be destroyed by the founder of the Dynastie dynasty, Saboktagin, a devout Sunni. His son, Mahmud, nevertheless rebuilt the tomb in 1009. In the th century, the city and mausoleum were damaged by the raids of the nomads of Turkmenistan, but Machhad managed to recover and was required in the th century as the capital of Khorassan. The mausoleum grew further during the ilkhanid periods (from th to late th century) and timurid (th century). After the destruction of Foetuses in 1390 by a son of Timur, Machhad replaced the other cities of the region. The successor of Timur, Shah Rokh (1405-1447), expands the mausoleum, and his wife, Gohar Shad (Gowharshad), added a mosque there. The old courses and minarets are embellished, a new northern iwan is added and the domes are covered with gold sheets. At the end of the th century, the mausoleum welcomed three Koranic schools and could be proud of the remarkable work of goldsmith.The advent of the Safavides (1501-1722), which imposes le as a state religion within the Persian Empire, is even more favourable to the development of Machhad. With Qom, the city is one of the country's main religious centres. Nevertheless, in the late 1605 th and early th centuries, the region suffered incursions by Uzbeks who, in, stole gold bricks from the dome dome. Shah Abbas I (1588-1629) recouvrir the mausoleum of new gold bricks and add tiles to rival Mecca, Kerbala and Najaf, then located in enemy territory under Sunni Ottoman domination. Following the great earthquake of 1680, the dome is damaged again before being brilliantly restored. Although Sunni, Nadir Shah (1736-1747), which will chase the Afghan invaders and further extend the borders of the Persian Empire, made Machhad its capital in 1736; his descendants will reign there until 1796.

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