Rereading the History of Dargazin City in Nasuh Matrakçi Miniature Images

Abstract

This article focuses on the miniature paintings of Nasuh Matrakçi who came to the west of Iran during the Safavid period. Matrakçi’s miniatures are among the oldest surviving images of Dargazin city, the like of which cannot be found in other travelogues and historians’ works. The surviving three images at two different settings can help us understand the urban and social status of Dargazin in the Safavid period. The findings indicate that, thanks to its Sunni residents and because of its geopolitical significance, Dargazin was of great interest to Ottoman and Safavid rulers who turned it to the governing base of the region. This played an important role in the city’s development in the way that in some areas, like the design of gardens, the traditional architecture of the Safavid period was mixed with original Persian style.