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Rab'-e Rashidi


Coordinates: 38°04′45″N 46°19′46″E / 38.07917°N 46.32944°E / 38.07917; 46.32944

Rab'-e Rashidi (Persian: رَبع رشیدی‎‎) was a tomb complex, including a school and workshop for producing books in the north-eastern part of the city of Tabriz, Iran, constructed in the early 14th century during the reign of Ghazan, a ruler of the Ilkhanid dynasty. Later other buildings replaced these, and the site is now ruined, but it is the original complex that gives the site its fame. It was founded and richly endowed by Rashid-al-Din Hamadani, the chief minister of Ghazan Khan. Rashid-al-Din sought to gather the most famous intellectuals of his time in fields of philosophy, science and medicine. The establishment started to decline after the execution of Rashid al din in 1318, though his son Ghiyas al-Din ibn Rashid al-Din led a revival in the 1330s, until his own murder in 1336.

The foundation document of the complex survives, dated August 1307, and gives a detailed picture of how the complex was supposed to function. There are later appendices, and the site may well have been functioning before 1307. There was provision for over 100 employees, about a quarter labourers and the rest skilled professionals, as well as 220 slaves. There was also provision for salaried students. In addition to all these the complex held a workshop for the production of books, where the early manuscripts of the Jami' al-tawarikh, and in the 1330s probably the Great Mongol Shahnameh were produced.


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