Tabriz House of Constitution can be visited when you reach Motahari Ave in the city of Tabriz. Located near the Tabriz bazaar, this building has great historical significance. Popularly known as ‘Khaneh Mashrouteh’, the building is a symbol of fighting despotism and reminiscent of struggles by Sattar Khan and Baqer Khan, the two key figures in the Iranian constitutional movement.
During the years leading to the Constitutional Revolution and later, the house was used as a gathering place for the leaders, activists and sympathizers of the movement. Among them, the most famous people were Sattar khan, Bagher Khan, Seqat-ol-Eslam Tabrizi and Haji Mirza Aqa Farshi.
The house was constructed on the orders of Haj Mehdi Koozekanani in 1868. It includes a two-floor building with internal and external parts (‘andaruni’ and ‘biruni’). Haj Mehdi Koozekanani was a merchant in the bazaar of Tabriz. With the initiation of the constitutional movement in Tabriz city, he joined the uprising and became one of its major financiers. At the same time he used the house as a meeting place for the revolution leaders, and a place for publication of their underground paper. In 1975 the house was registered by the Cultural Heritage of Iran. The main attractions of the structure lie in the beautiful skylight and the corridor which is full of mirrors and colorful glass fittings, according to an edited article by Iran Review.
Statues of Sattar Khan and Baqer Khan, known as Sardar-e Melli (national commander) and Salar-e Melli (national leader) respectively, stand at the entrance of the building, a reminder of the passion for fighting in that era.
Sattar Khan’s revolver and examples of the printing press from the constitutional movement era are among the items at the museum.
The museum also features personal belongings of Seqat ol-Eslam Tabrizi, a Shia cleric who was hanged by Russian troops in Tabriz, as well as photos of others who were campaigning against the presence of Russian troops in Tabriz. It includes sculptures of famous constitutional revolutionaries, their personal belongings, weapons, underground newspaper, and numerous photos from the revolution. One of the rooms in the building highlights women’s role in the revolution.
legend and mystery
Tabriz is the capital of one of the most famous provinces in Iran, Azarbaijan or Aturpatgan.
The provincial capital of East Azarbaijan was the second largest city in Iran until the early 1970s and has been the capital city of Iran numerous times throughout the country’s old history. Tabriz is located in a valley to the north of the beautiful Mount Sahand. The valley opens out into a plain that slopes down gently to the northern end of Lake Urumia, about 60 km to the west.
The city has a long and turbulent history although the early history of Tabriz is shrouded in legend and mystery. The town’s origin is believed to date back to distant antiquity, perhaps even before the Sassanian era (224 - 651 A.D.). The oldest stone tablet with a reference to Tabriz is that of Sargon the second, the Assyrian king. The tablet refers to a place called Tauri Castle and Tarmkis. Historians believe this castle was situated on the site of the present day Tabriz. It was the capital of Azarbaijan in the 3rd century A.D. and again under the Mongol Ilkhanid dynasty (1256 - 1353), although for some time Maragheh supplanted it.
During the reign of Aqa Khan of the Ilkhanids, as well as under the reign of Ghazan Khan, Tabriz reached the peak of glory and importance. Many great artists and philosophers from all over the world traveled to Tabriz.
In 1392, after the end of Mongol rule, the town was sacked by Tamerlane. It was soon restored under the Turkman tribe of the Qara Qoyunlu, who established a short-lived local dynasty. Under the Safavids it rose from regional to national capital for a short period, but the second of the Safavid kings, Shah Tahmasp, moved the capital to Qazvin because of the vulnerability of Tabriz to Ottoman attacks. The town then went into a period of decline, fought over by the Iranians, Ottomans and Russians and struck by earthquake.
The town did not return to prosperity until the second half of the 19th century. Although the greatest boost to Tabriz came with the opening up of Iran to the West at the turn of this century, when it became the main staging post between the interior of Iran and the Black Sea and, for a short time, the economic capital.
With a very rich history, Tabriz used to house many historical monuments. Unfortunately, many of them were destroyed in repeated invasions and attacks by foreign forces, negligence of governments, as well natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. What remains now mostly dates back to the Ilkhanids, the Safavids, and the Qajars. Some of the monuments are unrivaled masterpieces of architecture, such as the Constitution House.
