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Borujerd (Borojerd) ( Borūjerd) is a city in and capital of Borujerd County, Lorestan Province in western Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 227,547 in 59,388 families. Among the existing modern cities in Iran, Borujerd is one of the oldest reported at least since the 9th century. In Sassanid Empire, Borujerd was a small town and region neighboring Nahavand. Gaining more attention during Great Seljuq Empire in the 9th and 10th centuries, Borujerd stood as an industrial, commercial and strategic city in Zagros Mountains until the 20th century. In its golden ages, Borujerd was selected as the state capital of Lorestan and Khuzestan region during Qajar dynasty in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Today, Borujerd is the second largest city of Lorestan; hence, the major industrial, tourist and cultural center of the region. The city has kept its old architecture and lifestyle mostly through mosques, bazaars and houses built in the Qajar era. Its people are mainly of Lurish descent, but there are a minority of Laks who also live in Borujrd and who are Laki speaking, like Balavand, Ghisavand, Shahivand, Bayrnavand, Ichivand, Kolivand, Jalilavand tribes who inhabit the area of Borujerd township. It called small Paris and Solomon's city. It's a city that nobody of Arabs live there.

Etymology
According to some scholars, Borujerd was founded by Orodes II, the 13th King of the Parthian Empire, believing that the name "Burujird" derives from Middle Persian (Pahlavi) "Wurugird", "Wulugird" or "Orodhkard", meaning "built by Orodes". Others state that it was founded by the Sasanian King Piruz I ((r. undefined – undefined)459–484), holding that "Burujird" derives from "Piruzgird", a name which later changed to "Burugird", with the current spelling of the town being an Arabicised form of the latter word. The name "Burujird" appears in Islamic sources from the 9th century, first attested in a work by Ibn al-Faqih, who flourished in c. 903. In works by later Islamic authors, such as Istakhri and Ibn al-Athir, the city's name appeared as "Warukird", "Warugird", "Barugird" and "Barujird".

Geography and climate
Borujerd is located in western Iran, in the northern part of the Lorestan Province, and is situated on the road connecting Hamadan with Ahvaz through Khorramabad. It lies at an altitude of 1,570 m above sea level, and has a temperate climate in summer and cold winters. The city is located on the extensive and well-cultivated Silakhor Plain, which is bounded on the west by the high-elevated Zagros Mountains.

Due to its moderate mountain climate, fertile ground, and abundance of water and natural pastures, in addition to its importance as a commercial and administrative centre (e.g. as the seat of the governor), Borujerd has grown in overal size, population and environmental development.

History
There is scant information about Borujerd's pre-Islamic history. During amateur excavations in the vicinity of Borujerd, Parthian-era artifacts were found.

The city's Friday mosque (Masjed-e Jameh), one of the oldest mosques in Iran, was built on the foundations of a Zoroastrian fire temple. This bears evidence to the fact that area of Borujerd was inhabited before the advent of Islam. According to some scholars, Borujerd was founded by Orodes II, the 13th Parthian King. Other scholars state that it was founded by the Sasanian King Piruz I ((r. undefined – undefined)459–484). In the 9th century, Burujird and nearby Nahavand were the two main centres of the Mah al-Basra ("Media of the Basrans") district. In the Abbasid period, Hamuya ibn Ali, the vizier of Abu Dulaf al-Ijli, built a congregational mosque at Borujerd, which resulted in the town becoming more urbanised. In 10th century works of geography, Borujerd was described as a town at which much fruit and saffron was grown, and whose products were sent to the base of the Dulafids at Karaj. At the time, Borujerd, which lay on the road between Isfahan and Hamadan, was reportedly built of mud-brick, and occupied an area less than half a square farsakh.

Mosque dates back to the Mongol period. In 1093, Borujerd was the site of the battle between the Seluq prince Barkiyaruq and the forces of his mother Turkan Khatun, who after the death of her husband Malik-Shah, had embraced the cause of her younger son Mahmud I.

In 316/928 or 319/931 the founder of the Ziyārid dynasty, Mardāwīj b. Ziyār, gained control over the towns of ancient Media (known as the Jibāl), including Burūjird after defeating Asfār b. Shīrawayh (Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil, 8/196). A few years later, in 348/959, Burūjird fell into the hands of Ḥasanwayh b. Ḥusayn (d. 369/980), the founder of the Kurdish Ḥasanwayh dynasty (Le Strange, 201; Nafīsī, 1/11; Mashkūr, 395), and remained under the rule of his successors until the last of the dynasty, Ẓāhir b. Hilāl, was killed in 406/1016. After that, Burūjird became part of the administrative grant (iqṭāʿ ) of the Ziyārid Farhād b. Mardāwīj. In 414/1023, the Būyid Abū al-Ḥasan Samāʾ al-Dawla al-Daylamī attacked Farhād with the intention of taking possession of Burūjird. Farhād turned to the Kākuyid ʿAlāʾ al-Dawla al-Daylamī for protection. The latter dispatched his troops to Samāʾ al-Dawla’s capital, Hamadān, and occupied it, after which he reinstated Farhād as the governor of Burūjird (Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil, 9/330–331; see Mawlānā, 430).

BORŪJERD (or Barūjerd), town and šahrestān in the province of Lorestān in western Iran. Situated along the highway between Tehran and the oil province of Ḵūzestān and located halfway between Hamadān and Kermānšāh (now Bāḵtarān), Borūjerd has always been a road and railway junction of great strategic importance.

Little is known about the origins and the early development of Borūjerd, which is mentioned in Saljuq times. The great mosque dates from the Mongol period. The town became an important military center in the 12th/18th century and, together with the newly founded towns of Arāk and Malāyer (formerly Dawlatābād), was turned into a large garrison by the Qajar rulers during their drive to appease the western prov­inces, especially the nomadic Lor. The population of Borūjerd at the end of the 13th/19th century is reported to have been about 22,000 inhabitants. In recent years it has grown to more than 100,000 (101,345 in 1976).

Borūjerd was originally laid out in four quarters and was furnished with two bāzārs, a number of mosques, and several madrasas and caravansaries. The city walls and moat have now disappeared, however, and the central parts of the old quarters have been reshaped. As the administrative center of šahrestān, Borūjerd has a garrison and is a center of trade and local industry, mostly devoted to processing the agricultural produce of the surrounding villages and districts.

The šahrestān of Borūjerd, which is situated on a high plateau on the eastern edge of the Zagros range, is a major agricultural area. It covers an area of only 2,641 km2 and has a rural population of 104,444 (1976); the average population density for the whole district (including Borūjerd and the town of Dorūd) amounts to 88.4 per km2. Owing to favorable topographic and climatic conditions, the plains are devoted to cultivation of grain. Wherever irrigation is possible (by means of qanāts, wells, diversion of water of streams), cotton, melons, grapes, and fruit trees (especially almonds) are grown. The hills of the šahrestān and the Zagros promontories are extensively used as pasture by both nomads and peasants. Production of wool forms the basis for carpet manufacturing, which is a typical cottage industry in many villages. The town of Borūjerd serves both as the local outlet for all kinds of rural produce and as the main service center for the rural hinterland. -- BORŪJERD http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/borujerd-town-and-sahrestan-in-lorestan Iranica

Barūd̲j̲ird (or BURUDJIRD), a town in the Vlth ustdn (Luristan) of Persia, situated on the road connecting Hamadan with Ahwaz via Khurramabad; it is the seat of a farmdnddr (deputy governor). The population is 47,000. The town stands on an extensive and wellcultivated plain that is bounded on the west by the Zagros mountains. The climate is temperate ia summer, but cold in winter. There are some 900 shops most of which are in the two large bazaars. The Masdjid-i Djamic (cathedral mosque) dates from the Mongol period. It was at Barud|ird that the Saldjuk prince Barkyaruk [q.v.] in 485/1093 defeated the forces of his mother Turkan Khatun who, after her husband Malikshah's death, had espoused the cause of her younger son Mahmud. Bibliography: Yafcut, i^ 288, 289; de Bode, Travels in Luristan and Arabistan, ii, 302-7; A. H. Layard, Early Adventures in Persia, Susianet and Babylonia, London 1887, i, 288-91: Mrs, Bishop, Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan, London 1891, ii, 130-2; Sartlp Razmara and Sartlp Nawtash, Farhang-i Qiughrdfiyd-yi Iran, Tehran 1330 solar 1951, vi, 47. (L. LOCKHART) -- Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition

The City
The city of Borujerd is one of the oldest cities in Iran which has been populated at least for 20 centuries and has been reported at least from Sassanid Empire.Though founded by the Jews having taken refuge to Persia, since the Muslim conquest of Persia (637-651), Borujerd has been considered as a strategic area and especially in Seljuq dynasty and Qajar dynasty it received significant attention and many mosques, schools, bridges and castles were made or rebuilt by these dynasties.

Borujerd City has 256,962 inhabitants (estimated for 2006) and it is the 31st largest city in Iran and the 2nd largest in Lorestan. Borujerd is the industrial point of Lorestan. Its historical and cultural background as well as its remarkable nature, has changed it to a tourist destination. The city is well-structured with live nights and many shops and markets. Borujerdi people are easy going and tolerant and different religious minorities such as Jews, Sufism and Bahá'í Faith have grown there. The city has been named as Dār-Al-Sorūr which means the house of happiness. Today, Borujerd is sometimes referred to as Paris Kūčūlū namely the little Paris.

Language
The people of Borujerd speak mostly the Borujerdi dialect, which is a distinctive dialect on the continuum between Lori and Farsi, though to high degree affected by the specific accent common among the Jewish population of Borujerd since their escape from Mesopotamia. Other speech varieties such as Luri, Laki, and the local Judæo-Iranian dialect can be heard as well. But Luri and Laki aren't native language in that city.

Historical attractions

 * Jameh Mosque of Borujerd
 * Soltani Mosque of Borujerd
 * Imamzadeh Ja'far, Borujerd
 * Imamzadeh Ghasem, Borujerd
 * Imamzadeh Ibrahim, Borujerd
 * Imamzadeh Shahzadeh Abol-Hasan, Borujerd
 * Imamzadeh Vallian, Borujerd
 * Imamzadeh Ghasem, Borujerd
 * Zavvarian Tomb of Borujerd
 * Ghaleh Hatam Bridge, Borujerd
 * Chalanchulan Bridge, Borujerd
 * Ghorogh Hill, Borujerd
 * Roomian Hill, Borujerd
 * Bazaar of Borujerd

Parks and natural attractions

 * Goldasht Valley, Borujerd
 * Vennaii Village, Borujerd
 * Chogha Hill of Borujerd
 * Bishe Dalan Pound, Borujerd
 * Oshtorankuh, Dorood
 * Women's Park of Borujerd

Famous people

 * Seyyed Hossein Borujerdi, religious leader
 * Abdolhossein Zarrinkoob, writer and historian
 * Loris Tjeknavorian, musician
 * Zahra Rahnavard, artist and politician
 * Mostafa Abdollahi, director and actor
 * Jafar Shahidi, historian, bibliographer
 * Mehrdad Avesta, poet 20th-century
 * Arvin Moazzami, athlete
 * Ehsan Mohajer Shojaei, athlete
 * Mahvash, singer, dancer and stage performer
 * Man Haron Monis