New Findings on Shah Ismail’s Royal Garden and Shams-e-Tabrizi Minarets in Khoy Based on the Historical Sources, Architectural Remains and Osteological Studies

Geographical and political position of Khoy, one of the most ancient and eventful cities in the northwest of Iran, has brought this city to be considered important by the kings and local rulers. Moreover, on account of having suitable climate and fertile soil, Khoy has been appropriate for constructing governmental and private gardens, including Shah Ismail Safavid Royal Garden and its nearby places, documents of which have been cited in the historical sources. The research method was based on the collection of documents, maps and historical resources and their correspondence with the findings of field and library studies. In the first stage, the location of Khoy in historical times from Safavid period to present day is restored based on existing maps. Then architectural features and the recovery of different parts of Royal Garden and its nearby spaces including Maydan-e-Shahi (King’s Square) and Shams Tabrizi Minarets were noted. The core of this study focuses on correspondence between features of these spaces with documents, maps and historical resources, including Metraqchi’s miniature, Francesco Romano’s travelogue, Pascal Cost’s drawing map and extraction of new findings. It has been attempted to determine the plans and the positions of Royal Garden Buildings, Maydan-e-Shahi and tomb of Shams Tabrizi in the current city through graphical reconstruction and corresponding with existing maps. In addition, according to James Morier’s report and painting, and Field and Library Studies, architectural features of Shams Tabrizi Minaret and osteology of the skulls used in it were examined and the way of planting the skulls and biometric features were determined. These findings corrected some existing historical reports. Overall findings of this study provide a clear image of the relocation of Khoy in the last 500 years, position of Royal Garden, architecture of Safavid governmental palace and features of Shams Tabrizi Minarets in early Safavid period.