XI. Graves of Europeans in the Armenian Cemetery at Iṣfahān

Extract

The Armenian cemetery at Iṣfahān is an arid and waterless tract of desert land lying to the south of the city, between the Armenian suburb of New Julfa and the high hill known as the Kūh-i-Ṣuffah, and was granted to the community by Shāh 'Abbās the Great (1587–1629), who gransported the colony of Armenians from Julfa on the Araxes to his capital and granted to them the tract of land on the southern bank of the Zāyandah Rūd, opposite to the city, where the suburb which they named after their old home in Armenia now stands. Here they have enjoyed, from the time of āh 'Abbās, various privileges, not uninterrupted by periods of oppression and persecution. They have been allowed to build churches, of which the suburb now contains twelve, including All Saints', the Cathedral Church of the extensive Armenian diocese of Persia and India, to practise their religion freely, and even to offend the ears of pious Muslims with the sound of church bells.