Ardabil

Ardabil is a city in northwestern Iran, about 40 kilometers from the border with Azerbaijan, and serves as the capital of Ardabil province. As of the 2022 census the city had approximately 588,000 residents, mostly Shia Muslim, with around 650,000 people in the wider county. For a brief period in the tenth century Ardabil was the principal city of the historical Azerbaijan region before Tabriz took that role, and it is the birthplace of Shah Ismail I, founder of the Safavid Empire. The city is known for silk and carpet trading, the Ardabil carpets ranking among the finest classical Persian carpets ever produced, and it holds a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the sanctuary and tomb of Shaikh Safi ad-Din, along with the tomb of Ismail I. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/