Recognition of the Dignity of the Blue Mosque in Tabriz City

The Blue Mosque, one of the valuable architectural elements of Tabriz city, known as the Turquoise of Islamic world, has high status among the people of the city, also among domestic and foreign historians and travelers, ever since its establishment. The Blue Mosque has always played a dynamic role in Tabriz’s continuum of urban life and provides a proper setting for social interactions. Up to early in this century, the Blue Mosque, despite numerous damages and demolitions, had its privileged place in the city, until the large-scale interventions, which took place during the First Pahlavi’s era and changed the face of the city forever. These changes created the phenomenon problems associated with the ancient city structure, which unstable the role of many historic elements.The emergence of new urban relations contrasts with the spatial structure of the old city. These new elements, in Iran’s cities, appear different from their true nature, and remain this way until today. This modernization of the cities happened at a time that they did not have the actual conditions of an industrial city or even took the transition phase to modernism or had and understanding of the first principles of this evolution. These changes only imitate the underlying principles of modernization and in practice reject the old continuum of the city. The purpose of this study is to obtain a solution to recover the lost dignity of the Blue Mosque in Tabriz’s urban life and restore its rightful place among the few monuments that have remained; because during the earthquakes and wars, many of the monuments in city have been destroyed which make it necessary to protect the remaining historic elements. Therefore, to achieve this goal, the historic maps and documents of Tabriz city have been analyze, by historic –interpretive methods and by interviewing knowledgeable and expert people. On the other hand, field studies and information gathered from local residents helped to analyze the current situation. This paper, at first provides a comprehensive understanding of the origins of the formation of the Blue Mosque and the reports of the domestic and foreign historians and travelers. Then the position of the Blue Mosque in the continuum of urban life, in different historical periods, based on historical documents and maps will be analyze. Continuing with the analysis of the current situation of the Blue Mosque in its context, the damages and their reasons will be express. Also, by providing the detailed map of the approved plan for the area, the strengths and weaknesses of the project will be discuss in relation to the Blue Mosque. Finally, by analyzing the historical status of the Blue Mosque in the continuum of the old city of Tabriz and the factors which affecting them, it offers the ideal solution for restoring the Blue Mosque with the quality associated with cultural-historical axis where once was the path of the Silk Road. This is an effort in order to recover the historical identity of the mosque, the fabric and the city of Tabriz.