Mashad (also spelt Mashhad ar-Reza, literally the place of martyrdom) is the second largest city in Persia and one of the holiest cities in the Shiah world. It is located 850 kilometers (500 miles) east of Tehran, Persia, at the center of the Razavi Khorasan Province. Its population is 2,387,734 people (2006).
Mashhad is also home to one of the oldest libraries of the Middle-East called the Central Library of Astan-e Quds Razavi with a history of over six centuries. The Astan-e Quds Razavi Museum, which is part of the Astan-e Quds Razavi Complex, is home to over 70,000 rare manuscripts from various historical eras. There are some six million historical documents in the foundation's central library. In 1569 (977 H), `Imad al-Din Mas`ud Shirazi, a physician at the Mashhad hospital, wrote the earliest Islamic treatise on syphilis, one influenced by European medical thought.
Kashmar, Chorasan and Mashad rug is a type of Persian rug indigenous to this region.
