Ardabil and Sheikh Safiuddin Ardabili museum from the point of view of British Travelers

Azadeh Heidari¹

1) PhD of Library and Information Science

IOI Code : XKDC-AZABDB
Publication : First international conference of Museums (museumuma1402.ir)
Abstract :
    The travel books of foreign travelers include social, historical, geographical, political, cultural and literary facts that play an important role in Iranian studies. Travel books are first-hand information written by a foreigner about a country and its people. European tourists, especially after the establishment of the Safavid dynasty, traveled to Iran in the form of commercial, political and military missions and wrote down what they saw and heard. In the meantime, British travelers play an important role in introducing the history and geography of this land due to the close political and commercial relations between the governments of Iran and Britain, especially during the Qajar period. The introduction of cities and villages, geographical places, as well as historical monuments and museum objects are among the topics included in these sources. Considering the importance of travel books in the study of cities and their historical monuments, in this article British agents and travelers who have traveled to Ardabil in different historical periods are introduced and their observations about the historical monuments of Sheikh Safiuddin Ardabili Museum, including Chini khaneh, the library and the carpet are mentioned. This paper is the result of studying 130 volumes of translated travel books of British travelers who traveled to Iran from the Safavid period to the second Pahlavi period. By studying these sources, valuable information about the condition of the historical objects in the tomb of Sheikh Safiuddin Ardabili has been obtained over time, which guides the current studies about the Museum of Sheikh Safiuddin Ardabili.

Keywords : iran ardabil tomb of sheikh safiuddin arbili travel books british travelers