Iran - Andrew Burke [288]
Be aware that during major pilgrim seasons, almost all accommodation and transport will be booked out months in advance (see the boxed text). Contrastingly, at other times Mashhad offers about the best-value accommodation in Iran. Winters can be very cold, with snow on the ground for up to five months a year. Summers are contrastingly hot. April is ideal.
History
Following Imam Reza’s burial here, the small village of Sanabad began to attract Shiite pilgrims and soon became known as Mashhad (place of martyrdom). Tus remained a more significant town until 1389 when Timur sacked the whole area. But thereafter it was Mashhad that eventually limped back to life as the new capital of Khorasan. The shrine was enlarged in the early 15th century by Timur’s son, Shah Rokh, and his extraordinary wife, Gohar Shad, for whom the Haram’s main mosque is named. Once the Safavids had established Shiism as the state creed, Mashhad became Iran’s pre-eminent pilgrimage site and Shah Abbas I rebuilt the Holy Shrine’s new core around 1612. Politically, Mashhad reached its zenith under Nader Shah whose empire was focused on Khorasan. Even though Nader was a Sunni of missionary zeal, he continued to sponsor the Haram.
In 1928, nonreligious buildings within 180m of the Holy Shrine were flattened to make way for the Haram’s biggest enlargement to date. Prior to the 1979 revolution this religious ‘island’ was further expanded to 320m and construction has continued apace ever since. When historians look back on the era of the Islamic Republic, they will point to the Haram as its greatest architectural achievement. Meanwhile, the charitable foundation that manages the shrine, Astan-e Qods e Razavi (www.aqrazavi.org), has become a business conglomerate, managing enterprises from baking to carpets, and minerals to transport. But most of the money comes from donations, bequests and the selling of grave-sites: to be buried near the Imam is a great honour and suitably expensive (see Boq’eh-ye Khajeh Rabi, Click here).
During the Iran–Iraq War, Mashhad’s population ballooned as it was the furthest Iranian city from the front line. Many stayed on and the metropolis is now Iran’s second biggest, a huge, unwieldy and rather polluted sprawl.
Orientation
The Haram is Mashhad’s physical as well as spiritual centre. Beneath it is a subterranean circular highway loop. A key junction just south of the Haram is Falakeh Ab, marked on maps as Beit-ol-Moqaddas Sq. Construction around the Haram never seems to end: eventual enlargement plans supposedly include the partial destruction of Andarzgu St’s north side.
Information
BOOKSHOPS
Several bookshops stock maps, dictionaries and the odd English book, notably those in Mahtab Passaj (Map; Sa’di St). The Friday book market (Map; Modarres St, south side; 8am-2pm Fri) is good for English-language magazines including the Economist (IR10,000). Blind peddlers outside the Haram near Falakeh Ab sell excellent city maps (IR6000).
CONSULATES
Afghanistan (Map; 854 1653; Do Shahid St; 8am-noon Sat-Wed) An unruly queue of Afghans snakes round the building but foreign visa applicants can walk straight through an unmarked white door part-way down the queue. Apply early with a copy of your passport and two mugshots and in principle the 30-day tourist visa should be ready the same day for a flat €75 fee. However, a few travellers report being refused for no apparent reason.
Pakistan (Map; 222 9845; Imam Khomeini St; 9am-noon Sat-Wed) Occupies the former British consulate. Unlikely to issue visas.
Turkmenistan (Map; 854 7066; Do Shahid St, off Dah-e Dey Sq; 8.30am-noon Mon-Thu & Sat) All business