European Tourists and Islamic Holy Sites in Iran

Iranian reaction to European tourists, who visit holy sites in Iran, can clearly demonstrate Iranian attitude to West and western culture. Considering the importance of this issue, this paper will study Iranian reaction to European tourists from Timurid dynasty to Pahlavi era. At first based on Clavijo’s travel account, Timurid dynasty will be analyzed. Then, Safavid dynasty will be analyzed, in this era the relations between Iran and Europe reached its climax, as a result numerous travel accounts are available on this subject. After that, short period of Zand and Afsharid dynasties will be discussed. The large part of this paper is dedicated to Qajar dynasty, which is divided into four parts: 1. Muhammad Khan Qajar and Fat’h-Ali Shah Qajar; 2. Muhammad Shah Qajar; 3. Naser al-Din Shah Qajar to Enqelab e Mashruteh (Constitutional Revolution); 4. From Constitutional Revolution to Pahlavi era. Research methods in this paper are historical method, library resourcesand also notes from European travel accounts. Based on these travel accounts some hypotheses are presented here: Before Qajar dynasty and even in some periods in Qajar era Iranian people had positive attitude to Europeans and they were easily allowed in holy sites; but following the escalation of conflicts between them, Iranian people could not stand Europeans in holy sites.