Mashhad

Mashhad (Mašhad [mæʃˈhæd], is the second most populous city in Iran and the capital of Khorasan Razavi Province. It is located in the northeast of the country, near the borders with Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. It has a population of 3,001,184 inhabitants (2016 census).
The city is named after the “shrine” of Imam Reza (P.B.U.H.). The Imam was buried in a village in Tus, which afterwards gained the name Mashhad, meaning the place of martyrdom.
Mashhad is also known colloquially as the city of Ferdowsi, after the Iranian poet who composed the Shahnameh. The city is the hometown of some of the most significant Iranian literary figures and artists, such as the poet Mehdi Akhavan-Sales, and Mohammad-Reza Shajarian, the traditional Iranian singer and composer. Ferdowsi and Akhavan Sales are both buried in Tus, an ancient city that is considered to be the main origin of the current city of Mashhad.
Annually, Mashhad and its surrounding countryside have over 20 million pilgrims and tourists from around Iran and the world. Thus, the province of Khorasan is a major religious, cultural, social, and economic center of the country. In the past, Khorasan was a crossroad for the Silk Road and presently, all major air, rail, and roadway connect Mashhad to the rest of the nation as well as the world.
On 30 October 2009 (the anniversary of the death of Imam Reza (P.B.U.H.)), Iran’s then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared Mashhad to be “Iran’s spiritual capital”.

Mashhad Tourist

.