Maragha Observatory

East Azerbaijan Province, Iran

One of the most important astronomical observatories of the pre-modern Islamic world, founded by the polymath Nasir al-Din al-Tusi under Mongol patronage.

Historical Context

Hulagu Khan, the Mongol opener who destroyed Baghdad in 1258, simultaneously patronized scientific learning by funding this observatory. The juxtaposition of cultural destruction and scientific patronage is one of the paradoxes of the Mongol period.