Maragheh Observatory - Description

Description

Considerable parts of the groundwork are preserved in the ruins. In a 340 to 135 m² citadel-like area stood a four-story circular stone building of 28 m diameter. The mural quadrant to observe the positions of the stars and planets was aligned with the meridian. This meridian served as Prime meridian for the tables in the Zij-i Ilkhani, as we nowadays apply the meridian which passes the Royal Greenwich Observatory.

The Maragha observatory was the largest observatory in its time, consisting of a series of buildings occupying an area of 150 metres in width and 350 metres in length. One of these buildings was a dome which allowed the sun's rays to pass through. There was also a library consisting of 40,000 volumes, which were plundered from other libraries by the Mongol Empire during its invasions across Persia, Syria and Mesopotamia. Astronomers from across Persia, Syria, Anatolia and even China were gathered at the observatory, and the names of at least twenty of them who worked at the observatory are known. It is believed that several Chinese astronomers worked at the observatory and that they introduced several Chinese methods of computation. The Maragha observatory was also reported to have had over a hundred students studying under Nasir al-Din Tusi at the observatory, and was also the first observatory to benefit from the revenues of waqf trust funds. After al-Tusi's death, his son was appointed the director of the institution, but it was later abandoned by the middle of the 14th century. A visit to the ruins of the observatory later inspired Ulugh Beg to construct his own large observatory at Samarkand to continue the astronomical research of the Maragha school from where it left off.