Tabriz, the capital of East Azerbaijan, is set in a valley at the foot of the Sahand Mountains, 294 kilometers northeast of Zanjan. The fourth biggest city in Iran, it has a population of 1,600,000 and has become an important industrial and trade center for business between Tehran and Turkey.

The most important of historical monuments is the Blue Mosques, once considered a masterpiece of Iranian decorative tilework. Built towards the end of the reign of the Timurid ruler Jahan Shah, it was seriously damaged by an earthquake; today only a few pillars, parts of the outer wall and the main gate, and sections of the vaulted ceiling and a dome remain. The mosque plan is a variant on the usual Iranian four-eivan courtyard style.

Apart from the mosque, there are few other buildings to visit in Tabriz. The Azerbaijan Museum, next door to the mosque, has a rather mixed collection of archaeological and ethnographical objects. Further west along the same avenue are the remains of the citadel, or Arg, which dates back to the Mongol occupation at the beginning of the fourteenth century.