TEHRAN –Some 74 tourism-related projects have been inaugurated across East Azarbaijan province, northwest Iran, over past two years, the provincial tourism chief has said. A budget of 32 trillion rials ($64 million) has been channeled into the projects, Ahmad Hamzehzadeh explained on Wednesday. The projects include hotels, guest houses, eco-lodge units, tourist complexes, travel agencies, museums and handicrafts workshops, the official added.The projects have been carried out in close collaboration with the private sector, he noted. Soaked in history and culture for millennia, Tabriz, the capital of East Azarbaijan, embraces several historical and religious sites, including the Jameh Mosque of Tabriz and Arg of Tabriz, and UNESCO-registered Tabriz Historic Bazaar Complex to name a few.

The city became the capital of the Mongol Il-Khan Mahmud Gazan (1295–1304) and his successor.

Timur (Tamerlane), a Turkic conqueror, took it in 1392.

Some decades later, the Kara Koyunlu Turkmen made it their capital.

It was when the famous Blue Mosque was built in Tabriz.The city retained its administrative status under the Safavid dynasty until 1548, when Shah Tahmasp I relocated his capital westward to Qazvin.

During the next two centuries, Tabriz changed hands several times between Persia and the Ottoman Empire.

During World War I, the city was temporarily occupied by Turkish and then Soviet troops.Tabriz was declared a world craft city of carpet weaving by the World Craft in 2016.

It also bore the title of the Islamic Tourism Capital in 2018.ABU/