Memory of the World; 2012 - unesdoc - Unesco

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Administrative documents
of Astan-e Quds Razavi in
the Safavid era
Inscribed 2009
What is it
A collection of documents dating from 1589 to 1735
recording and relating to daily life and governance across
a wide area of the Middle East that includes modern-day
Iran and Afghanistan.
Why was it inscribed
The collection provides an insight into everyday
administrative, economic, agricultural, social and
religious life, especially in the city of Mashhad, under
the powerful Safavid house which ruled Iran and the
Persian empire from 1501 to 1736.
Where is it
Astan-e Quds Razavi Library, Mashhad, Iran
There are 69,000 pages of documents in the collection
which forms part of the archives of Astan-e Quds Razavi, a
large and wide-ranging religious and charitable institution
based in the Islamic holy city of Mashhad in Khorasan
province. Today Astan-e Quds Razavi is one of the biggest
charitable institutions in the world and in the time
frame the documents cover, the motevalli, or head of the
institution, was a direct deputy of the Safavid kings with
powers that extended into all areas of government. As
a consequence, the reach of Astan-e Quds Razavi into
all sections of society was extensive and the collection
of documents reflects this.
� Pages from the documents
� Astan-e Quds Razavi tomb and shrine
of Shi’ite Imam Reza Mashhad.
198 Administrative documents of Astan-e Quds Razavi in the Safavid era
Although the archives of Astan-e Quds Razavi cover
centuries of Persian and Iranian history and derive from
several ruling houses, documents from the Safavid era
are rare. This collection dates from after the start of the
Safivids era, when a large increase in endowments drove
Astan-e Quds Razavi to evolve its function from a purely
charitable and religious organization into a much largerscale
concern with an administrative reach across society
so all-encompassing that it even paid the army wages on