The Morphology of Historical Neighborhoods of Mashhad in Qajar Period (Using Colonel Julius Delmage’s Map)

Mashhad is one of the historical cities of Iran, formed based on the existence of a holy place. Several written documents have described Mashhad, but so far, no study can be found that has described the boundaries and structure of its historical neighborhoods. Applying a descriptive-analytical method, this applied research explored a document from Golestan Palace as a case. It tried to answer the question: How was the morphology of Mashhad’s historical neighborhoods in the Qajar period, based on Colonel Julius Delmage’s map? The results showed that the administration system of Mashhad was based on six major neighborhoods. Every neighborhood, based on spatial features and residents, had different structures and different service pilgrimage spaces. All of these have been formed based on their accessibility to the central pilgrimage space of Mashhad and its gates. The formation of most caravanserais in the Paein Khiaban, Sarshour, and Noghan neighborhoods indicates more pilgrimages in them. Moreover, most of urban service spaces and guard places had been located in Sarab neighborhood, indicating that this neighborhood was the resident of the nobles. Eidgah neighborhood is considered the most religious neighborhood of Mashhad as it embraces more mosques and tekyehs, while the central part of the city and Sarab and Noghan neighborhoods are more famous for education.