a city in southwestern Iran, on the Bushire-Isfahan highway. Administrative center of the ostan(province) of Fars. Population, 370,000 (1975). Shiraz produces textiles, sugar, flour, wine, mineral fertilizers, cement, petroleum and attar of roses. The city is famous for its carpets, mosaics, and silver articles. It is the trade center of an agricultural region that produces roses, grapes, tobacco, and sugar beets. A university is located in the city.
Under the Sassanids a settlement stood on the site of Shiraz. A city was founded there by Arabs in the seventh century. From the tenth to mid-llth centuries, Shiraz was a center of the Buyid state. In the 14th century it was seized twice by Tamerlane. In the 14th and 15th centuries the Shiraz school of miniatures was famous. In the second half of the 18th century, under the Zands, the city was the capital of Persia. Shiraz was the birthplace of Saadi and Hafez. The ruins of Persepolis are located 50 km northeast of the city. Architectural monuments include the fortress walls. The Fars Museum, which houses works of Iranian applied art, is located in Shiraz. The Mausoleum of Saadi (1952, architect A. Godard) is nearby.