Reconstruction an Assumptive Plan of the Soltanieh Historical City, based on the Matrakci Miniature and the Historical Documents

Recognition of the historical cities in different periods recounts the history of Iranian-Islamic civilization that access to such information requires studying the structure of their architecture and urbanization. The historical city of Soltaniyeh, as the third capital of the Ilkhanate, was one of the most important political and economic centers of its time, and today only the boundaries of the monuments of the old city can be identified. Aiming to create the right context for recreation and protection of the remains of Soltaniyeh, this study identifies the spatial structure of this city, which is one of the most basic proceedings for its optimal expansion. According to the mentioned necessity, the present article, using analytical-comparative study, attempts to present the assumptive plan of the spatial structure of Soltaniyeh city by investigating historical documents, in particular, Matrakci Miniature. The results of the study, implicates to a premeditated and predesigned plan which include three parts: ancient fort, middle citadel, or downtwon, and Rabaz, each of which has a definite architectural and urbanization component. Throughout history, urban elements, which mentioned more than others in the documents, have faced the least amount of damage to date (like the Oljeitu Tomb with 46.66% repetition in resources), or it was possible to identify their exact location (like the city’s middle tower and battlement with 40% repetition in resources), and they are still visible today. Urban elements that have the least repetition rate (6.66%) or they are indexed only in one document, have no precise location in the assumptive plan. Other urban elements which have been repeated in more than one historical document (With percentages between 6.66% and 40%), due to the availability of analytical-comparative study conditions, are located in the assumptive plan and it seems possible that they can be recreated in the current situation with the help of experts.