Maghbaratoshoara Cemetery

 

Maghbaratoshoara (مقبره الشعرا) is a mausoleum for poets, mystics, scientists and well-known people of Tabriz located in the sorkhab district of Tabriz. It is located in Sheshghelan suburb, Seghatoleslam Ave in Tabriz on the east side of Seyed Hamzeh's grave and Ghaem Magham's grave. In the past it has also gone by the names of Haziratoshoara, Haziratolghozat and Sorkhab Cemetery.  

 

The exact date of its creation is not known. The Mausoleum was first mentioned by Hamdollah Mostowfi in his Nozhat ol-Gholoub. Hamdollah mentions it being located in what, at the time, was the Sorkhab district of Tabriz, Sorkhab and Charandab being the oldest districts in the city of Tabriz. 

 

The cemetery had been functional and in good condition up until the attack of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the 10th century, but following their attack and for the next few years it was desecrated and destroyed. While natural dictators such as earthquakes (in particular the ones in 1193 and 1194) and flooding has caused massive damage to the cemetery as well, however, its deep roots in Tabriz’s history and culture has prompted construction of new monuments on the property in order to preserve it. Since the 1970's, there have been attempts to renovate the graveyard area. In 1971, assisted by a newspaper competition to come up with a design, the entry of Engineer Farzanmehr was selected and the construction of a new symbolic building on this site was undertaken. 

Some people who are buried in this graveyard are quite famous. The first poet buried in this complex is Asadi Tusi (999-1072 A.D.). Other famous Persian poets buried there include Anvari Abivardi, Zahiroddin Faryabi, Falaki Shirvani, Shams al-Din Sajasi, Mojiroddin Balaghani, Homam Tabrizi, Khaghani, Qatran Tabrizi, Mani Shirazi, Lesani Shirazi, Shakibi Tabrizi, Maghrebi Tabrizi and Shapour Neyshapuri. Due to the elements described above there is barely any evidence left of the actual tombs of these deceased individuals. 

Shahriar was the last poet to have been interred in Maghbaratoshoara and the only one who has works both in Persian and Azerbaijani. The death and subsequent burial of Shahriar here has given the Maghbaratoshoara Cemetery a breath of life so to speak and once again made it a must see tourist attraction of Tabriz.