The Importance of Commercial - Communication Road of the Holy Shrines in the Development of Kermanshah City in Qajar Period, Based on Historical and Archeological Evidence

Roads always had an important role in the formation of cities and flourished civilizations. Kermanshah city throughout the history has been considered due to importance of communication in the centuries before Islam with royal road passing, and Khorasan highway passing through it in the Islamic period. In the Qajar period, Khorasan highway considered as the road of Holy Shrines had important role in the development and prosperity of the city during this period. This issue implied the necessity of subject and considering that the importance of this road hasnt been investigated in the flourishing city of Kermanshah, therefore independent research is necessary in this field. The present research is the first attempt that aims is study the importance of the road of holy shrines in the prosperity of Kermanshah city. The results show that the road of holy shrines with multi-purpose functional such as trade (exports and imports), religious (holy shrines pilgrims and conveyance of the corpses), and communication had an important role in the development and prosperity of the city of Kermanshah in Qajar period. Due to the importance of aforementioned matters, Qajarian princes as ruler of the Kermanshah, provided necessary measures in order to the safety of pilgrims and merchants that set off to the holy shrines and Baghdad.