Introducing and Analyzing Two Historical Documents about the Development of Tehran at the Reign of Nasiruddin Shah

Tehran has changed a lot at the time of Nasiruddin Shah. The changes began from the destruction of Tahmāsbī fortress and constructing a new one and development of the city in 1867. These were done because the town was small; therefore, Nasiruddin Shah ordered to make the changes. There is a very few information about the formation of the development and its details. The existing data can be extracted from historical books and newspapers which were published during the Qajar period and left numerous questions unanswered. There are at least two official documents -about the development of Tehran at the time of Nasiruddin Shah- which the researchers neglected to examine. This paper tries to describe the formation and city planning of Tehran at the time by introducing and analyzing the said documents. Disregarding how much the development is in conformity with the said documents, studying their contents clarifies what kind of thoughts on urban planning were accessible for implementing this development. The records under study are kept in the Boyūtāt Album No. 188 existing in the “National Library and Achieves of the Islamic Republic of Iran”. These documents which address Nasiruddin Shah propose some suggestions about the development of the city of Tehran and constructing a new fortress. The author of the documents is unknown. These two documents were firstly published in “Ganjīne-ye Asnad” Magazine along with several other accounts. As there were several mistakes in the first deciphering, I tried to decipher and rewrite the documents scientifically.  Besides their physical specifics, to understand them in the context of Tehran’s historical changes, a summary on the changes in Tehran at the time of Nasiruddin Shah is provided.  These documents contain numerous and essential facts about city planning that have been in the minds of the founders of the development of Tehran at the time of Nasiruddin Shah. The first document is in two parts; in the first part the author proposes several suggestions about the form and size of the city, and in the second part, he/she aims to provide how to secure the costs. In the second document, the offerer endeavors to enumerate the benefits of the development of Tehran and convince Nasiruddin Shah to accept the suggestions.  These two documents reveal following points on the development of Tehran: form and size of the town, statistical issues such as the number of residing households, field area, separating needed residential and non-residential uses, how to secure the costs and the labor force. Moreover, these deeds are essential references for the land price in that period as well as measurement units for length and area in large scales, i.e., at city scale at the time of Nasiruddin Shah. Besides, according to these documents, man can prove the relationship between the twelve gates of the Nāsserī fortress with the Shiite twelve Imams.