غلامرضا امیر خانی

The main objective of the research is to study and analyze the function and role of libraries during the Safavid dinasty.

According to the nature of the research, a library method based on books, manuscripts, and first-hand (primary) documents, has been used.

The present study shows that in general, two distinct periods can be considered in the life and function of Safavid libraries. The first period, which is related to the 16th century and the reign of Shah Ismail and part of the time of Shah Tahmasb, is a continuation of the role and function of the 15th century libraries, especially the Timurid libraries in Khurasan, where the main task of libraries is to produce and create exquisite manuscripts using the highest level of book design arts. The second approach was to pay attention to libraries in the position of preserving and maintaining the written works of Shiite scholars and jurists, which is considered a significant change in the role and function of important libraries of this period. In this regard, a fundamental change took place in Shia jurisprudential-theological texts, most of which were written by scholars who had migrated to Iran from the Jabal Amel region of Lebanon. The transfer of the personal libraries of this group of immigrant scholars caused many Arabic works to be transferred to Iran. In addition to this kind of texts, attention to Persian language as the language of writing jurisprudential-religious works and used by the public is one of the other features of this period. In addition to the necessity of the time and the need of the Safavid government to gain legitimacy and explain the jurisprudence principles of the Shia religion by using the books and treatises that appeared, including authoring, translating, summarizing and rewriting, another factor was also raised, which was: the negative view from some jurisprudential thoughts to the category of painting, which specifically caused Shah Tahmasb to close the art workshop of his royal library in Qazvin. The change of the capital from Qazvin to Isfahan was also formed in a context affected by these developments. In Isfahan, Shah Abbas committed himself to the establishment of the royal library, which was located in the building complex known as Dowlatkhaneh. In addition, he and his great contemporary scholar, Sheikh Bahai, by taking advantage of the tradition of endowment, gave increasing prosperity to the libraries of the holy shrines, which in particular should be the important collections dedicated to the mausoleum of Sheikh Safi in Ardabil and the library of Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad (Astan-e Quds-e Razavi). Despite the variety of works that later influenced the collection of the Astan-e Quds library, most of the works available in that place and in other libraries of the second Safavid period, were dedicated to religious and jurisprudential texts, which are generally found in the libraries of schools, mosques, and holy shrines or personal collections were kept.

The function and position of libraries during Safavid period can be seen in two different ways. In the first, the continuation of the function of the libraries was like the previous period, in which the main task of the libraries was to create exquisite manuscripts by using the well-known painters, calligraphers, and book designers. In the second stage, more attention was paid to libraries as a place to preserve the written works of Shiite scholars and jurists, which is considered a significant change in the role and performance of important libraries of this period.

The article aims to evaluate the approved and performed policies in the area of cultural heritage, in particular, documentary and writen heritage after Islamic Republic. Howlett and Romesh model was used to evaqluate the macro policies of the area of cultural heritage and the required data have been gathered using documentary method and interview with experts. To achive the objective، the current policies of Islamic Republic of Iran in the area of heritage conservation were analyzed. The statistical population was rules and upstream policies of Islamic Republic of Iran including: 1. The first and sixth Five-Year Development Plan, 2. The Constitution of Islamic Republic of Iran, 3. Vision Document 1404 of Iran, 4. The principles of cultural policy of Iran. The evaluation criteria of the policies in this study was efficiency and effectiveness, i.e. the research aimed to answer the question that whether the current policies of Islamic Republic have had a desirable effect on the conservation of cultural heritage, particularly documentary and written heritage? The findings of the study indicated that the current situation of cultural heritage conservation, in particular, "documentary and written heritage" isn't a desirable situation in the cultural policy making of the country، such that it can be claimed that cultural heritage in the macro policies of the country has been considered synonymous with "old buildings" and "antiques" and the most of the legal approvals have been approved to conaerve this kind of heritage.

Abu al-Khayr Shams al-Din al-Jazari, also known as Ibn al-Jazari, was a renowned scholar who gained prominence during the Timurid period. After Timur's victory over the Ottoman Sultan Bayazid in the Battle of Ankara in 805/1402, Ibn al-Jazari moved to Samarkand. Subsequently, he spent two years in Transoxiana before departing for Shiraz following Timur's death. From then until his passing in 833/1429 in Shiraz, he undertook numerous travels, settled in different cities, and authored numerous works. The present research aims to shed light on his life and scholarly activities in the last three decades, focusing on first-hand sources, particularly manuscripts. This research seeks to rectify the oversight in biographies related to Ibn al-Jazari, the findings of this study demonstrate that he revisited Transoxiana and Khorasan at least twice, and his hadith gatherings garnered interest from both political and scholarly figures during the Timurid period.

The Nasāyeh-e Shahrukhi , one of Jalāl Qā’eni’s works, is amongst the texts referred to as Andarz-nāma (literally, Book of Advice [generally known as Mirrors for Princes] ) The author was both a religious scholar (faqih)and a prominent preacher.  Dedicated to the Timurid Shāhrukh, the book, besides some counsel and advice to the king, presents first-hand knowledge about certain religious and social features of the author’s time. The two significant subjects mentioned by Qā’eni, which are addressed in the present study are as follows:  first, problems related to the taxes levied on the people and the injustice and violations committed by tax-collectors under the Timurid rule; and second, the religious investigations of various groups, especially the Ismailis, in the author’s birthplace, that is, Qohistān.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Bushehr was the most important Iranian port in the Persian Gulf. Because of this, the customs of this city had a vital function as an important source of revenue for the central and local rulers and they paid attention to it. The colonial and all-round presence of British agents in the Persian Gulf and their attention to this port and the establishment of consulates by several European countries had raised this importance. These circumstances caused several citizens of Belgium to go to Bushehr to manage the southern customs after the presence of Joseph Naus in the Iranian financial administration and his request to send other experts from Belgium. Among them was a young man named Lambert Molitor, who came to Iran with his two brothers, August and Camille. Lambert Molitor’s unpublished diaries provide researchers with new insights into the situation in Bushehr and other southern customs. Based on these notes, the present study, while examining the situation of Bushehr customs, deals with the efforts and challenges facing customs officials as a fledgling institution and evaluates the record of Belgian advisers in this regard. This change took place after the issuance of Muzaffar al-Din Shah’s decree indicating the abolition of the Iranian customs lease. Disobedience of some local governors and resistance to the implementation of the new law, extensive smuggling of goods and especially weapons, lack of appropriate facilities and finally the expansion of areas and coastal ports of the Persian Gulf from the Mohammareh (Khorramshahr) to the shores of the Oman Sea were among the problems facing Lambert Molitor and his other Belgian and Iranian colleagues. Despite some negative approaches to the Belgians’ performance in Iran, the increase in customs revenue and the establishment of an organized structure for it were among the achievements of Molitor and his compatriots. Although, this group did not have much success in training Iranian staff.

To investigate the process of establishment and early development of the National Library of Iran

 Data was collected from archival documents and library resources
Findings and

Expansion of relations with the West in the later Qajarid period inspired Iranians to adopt European nations’ culturarl initiatives. Introduction of printing technoloty, establishminet of European style schools and higher education institutions, the increase of the educated population facilitated the foundation of a national library. An act passed the Parliament 1937 established the National Library as a depertment under the Ministry of Education. The core collections of the newly established National Library were the collection of the Darolfonoon polytechnic and the collection of the Maaref public library.  Two prominent figures instrumental in the formation of the Library were the Education Minister, Ali Asghar Hekmat (1896-1980) and Mehdi Bayani (1906-1967) who headed the Library for the next 25 years. Also a modest building was designed by the French architect André Godard (1881-1965).

On the occasion of the 600th year of the death of Hafez Abru, renowned historian and geographer of the 9th century, a special meeting was held in the Research Department of National Library and Archives of I.R. of Iran in order to probe into Hafez Abru's personality, works and thoughts. In this meeting, Dr. Gholam-Reza Amirkhani, Dr. Seyyed Sadeq Sajadi and Seyye Ali Al-e-Davood lectured on this great figure. The present article includes speeches as well as Q & As presented in the meeting.

Herāt experienced a considerable boom of culture and art during the reign of Timurids, especially during the long reign of Shāhrokh and Hossein Bāyqārā. Herāt’s cultural life had been influenced by several factors and issues which are going to be categorized in four classes of: promotion of Sharia, Persian language expansion, Iranian-based thoughts, and mysticism to be analyzed beside the character of their patrons, especially Shāhrokh and his son Bysonqor Mirza.

The events after the war between Timur and Toqtamish in 797 A.D. near the Terek river have reflected differently thorough various sources. Meanwhile the most Timurid historians have written about the Timur's invasion on Moscow and capture of it, the western historians and resources don't believe to it. This paper in an attempt to a new approach based on different books and resources.

The main objective of this study, in addition to defining the characteristics of governmental records in the Timurid era (ninth Hijri century), is evaluation of the role and importance of these records in analyzing the power s tructure and bureaucracy of the Timurids. Universe: This study embraces all governmental records issued by Timurid Kings (Soltaniat) of which originals are now kept in archives or museums of different countries. Methodology / Approach: The process of identifying and collecting the documents sought by this study has been conducted through libraries and by referring to different archives around the world. The collected data has been analyzed by applying the method of historical research based on authentic texts. Despite the existence of numerous and authentic historical texts related to the Timurid era, there are a limited number of original records remaining from this period. This study establishes that in addition to the nine records so far known to be from the Timurid period there are two other records, kept in the Afghanistan National Archives, that belong to Sultan Husayn Bayqarah, the last Timurid ruler. Despite the overall similarity, the records belonging to the Timurid period can be examined from different perspectives according to their time and the origin of their issuance. This is p articularly true of the commands by Shahrukh, which were all issued with one- year intervals. They were issued in the west of Iran. Because of the limited number of original records remaining from the Timurid era, there are yet many unsaid facts about the structure of administration and the system of bureaucracy in this era. Nevertheless, the limited documents remaining still reflect some important political-social aspects of the history of the Timurid era. According to the findings of this study, the available records indicate a special administration structure in the light of which the relationship between the king, the prince and the khan of Mughal in the Timurid era can be studied. In the era of Shahrukh, the element of time and the origin of the documents’ issuance should be considered, associated with t he events recorded in historical texts.

In the history of Iran a"er Islam, the Transoxiana region has a special importance for various reasons, such as its political centrality and the conicts between Iran and its neighbors. In the early sixteenth century, with the emergence of the powerful Shia Safavid government, relations between Iran and the Transoxiana became completely hostile, and this situation continued for about 120 years. From the middle years of the reign of Shah Abbas I, these relations gradually improved. In dierent studies, the analysis of this situation has frequently been aected by the religious disputes between the Shia Safavids and the Sunni Uzbeks. is paper aims to explore this issue by studying the religious subjects and symbols in the letters and records of that era. e "ndings of this research show that despite the existence of religious conicts, the two sides used religion as a disguise and excuse for their political and military actions. at’s why in the later era when the conicts were settled, there are no more discussions about religious disputes; in this era economic motivations and commercial purposes are the priority. Even in the correspondences of the two sides in this era, there is no sign of religious claims and Shia and Sunni conicts.

Arrangement and description of records and the creation of finding aids are at the heart of all archival work. This article explains the five principles of archival arrangement, levels of arrangement and description, Principle of Provenance, original order, moderate degree of order, and organizational resources. Afterwards, it focuses on the importance of describing the content of archival resources using finding aids. Finding aids are introduced as a means of managerial supervision and archival description and are divided into three categories: internal supervision tools, intra-organizational referential indexes, and extra-organizational referential indexes. The last group is itself divided to calendars, checklists, indexes, and information network systems. Finally the standards for arranging and describing records are discussed.being identified, the content of the websites were downloaded using Webzip. In the next step, the features of the contents and structures of the downloaded national archives websites were extracted and analyzed. Using Microsoft Excel, the frequency of the extracted features were determined and included in a checklist. Similar items were omitted from the checklist and a preliminary attitude survey was conducted among archives experts. Based on findings, 41 important features of the content of the websites and 10 important features of their structure were identified. These features were included in a checklist and distributed among archives experts in order to determine the importance of each item. Among the features, 36 items relating to the content and 7 features relating to the structure of websites were considered more important and chosen for designing the proposed pattern.