Shiraz
city in Fars Province, Iran
Shiraz is the fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, which is historically known by the exonym Persia proper. As of the 2016 national census, the population of the city was 1,565,572 people, and its built-up area with Sadra was home to almost 1,800,000 inhabitants. A census in 2021 showed an increase in the city's population to 1,995,500 people. Shiraz is located in southwestern Iran on the rudkhaneye khoshk (lit. 'dry river') seasonal river. The city has a moderate climate and has been a regional trade center for over a thousand years.
The earliest reference to the city, as Tiraziš, is on Elamite clay tablets dated to 2000 BCE. The modern city was founded by the Sasanian dynasty and restored by the Umayyad Caliphate in 693 CE and grew prominent under the successive Iranian Saffarid and Buyid dynasties in the 9th and 10th–11th centuries, respectively. In the 13th century, Shiraz became a leading center of the arts and letters, due to the encouragement of its ruler and the presence of multiple Persian scholars and artists. Two famous poets of Iran, Hafez and Saadi, are from Shiraz, whose tombs are located on the north side of the current city boundaries.
Shiraz is one of the top tourist cities in Iran, visited by people from around the world, and is known as the city of poets, literature, and flowers. It is also considered by some Iranians to be the city of gardens due to the presence of a number of gardens and fruit trees that can be seen throughout the city, such as Eram Garden.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Shiraz” as city in Fars Province, Iran. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as city in Fars Province, Iran. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6397066. VIAF identifies the subject as 144243944. The Library of Congress control number is n80066882. Authority coordinates are 29.610, 52.531. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2016, 2021 and 2000.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Shiraz”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Shiraz primary sources, Shiraz archive and Shiraz research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Shiraz”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Shiraz” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.