Isfahan, today Iran's third largest city (about 340 km south-east of Tehran), is called the pearl of Iran by the locals and the city of Polish children by the Poles. After the evacuation of the so-called Anders Army and accompanying civilians (totaling over 114,000 people) from the USSR to Iran (for centuries referred to by foreigners as Persia), some 20,000 Polish children found their way there, of whom some 3,000 were in Isfahan. This revitalised Iranian-Polish relations. Among others, the Society for Iranian Studies in Tehran (1942-1945) was established, under the aegis of which field expeditions of Iranian and Polish scientists were organised. During one of these (in October 1943), one of the forgotten Polish monuments was found and restored to Polish historical memory.

Isfahan as the capital of the Ottoman Empire

In 1585, Shah Abbas I the Great of the Safavid dynasty moved the capital from Kazvin (near the border with the Ottoman Empire) to Isfahan, which lay more in the centre of the country. Thanks to the efforts of Abbas and his successors, this city became one of the largest (over 1 million inhabitants) and most beautiful in the 17th century, with dozens of religious schools, hundreds of mosques and public baths and thousands of shops and workshops. Isfahan attracted visitors from afar, including merchants, travellers and MPs, as well as missionaries: first Spanish and Portuguese, then Polish.

Teodor Miranowicz - envoy of John III Sobieski to the Shah

In 1606. Abbas allowed the bishopric of the Apostolic Armenian Church (one of the so-called Oriental Churches) to be established, and in the 1640s the Catholic Church in Isfahan was placed under the protection of King Wladyslaw IV Vasa. Among the envoys arriving in this dazzling city was John III Sobieski's two-time envoy to Shah Suleiman I (reigned 1666-1694), the Armenian Theodore Miranovich. He made his living here in December 1686, and his tombstone is also located here.

Armenians were excellent merchants. In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth they almost dominated trade with the East, satisfying the growing demand of the nobility for oriental products, especially weapons, textiles, clothes and spices. They were involved in importing and, in time, producing carpets, and lent money (even to kings).

Poles' links with Persia

Thanks to their contacts and knowledge of languages and trade routes, Armenians were well suited to the role of diplomats - it was no coincidence that they made up the majority of the Republic's envoys to Persia.

Teodor Miranowicz, on his second and final mission to Persia, was to probe whether the Safavid monarchy could become the Republic's ally against Turkey. This was a time when Jan Sobieski, radiant with the fame of a great leader (victories at Chocim, 1673, and Vienna, 1683), was attempting active anti-Ottoman policies to increase the importance of the Commonwealth. These included bringing about interaction with the Crimean Khanate and Persia. In the case of the latter state, this was a reference to earlier attempts: the alliance of Casimir Jagiellon and Uzun Hasan, Sultan of the Turkmen White Sheep Horde (1473-1474), the alliance proposal of Stefan Batory presented (via Venetian deputies) to Shah Isma'ilium II (unsuccessfully), the effective interaction of Sigismund III Vasa with Abbas I the Great (when the Republic was at war with the Turks in 1620-1621, the Persians made a relief expedition to the lands of eastern Turkey). Good relations with the Shah state continued with Ladislaus IV. Ultimately, Safavid Persia, plunged into a deep political crisis at the end of the 17th century and incapable of war with Turkey, refused Sobieski's support.

Polish graves in the cemetery in Isfahan

In Iran, an Islamic country, Christians of all faiths were and are often buried in Armenian cemeteries. In just such a necropolis in Isfahan, located on a hill towering over the city, there is a Polish section surrounded by a low wall on the main cemetery avenue. It is tidy; the graves, set among grass and field flowers, are in good condition.

The dominant feature of the plot is a small monument topped by a cross. In the central part of the commemoration there is an eagle and an inscription: POLISH EXILES - COMPATRIOTS . Among the eighteen modest tombstones of refugees, arranged in two rows, there are seventeen civilian graves (mainly children and young people) and one military grave. In addition to these, in front of the pedestal itself, there are three more graves: the first one of an envoy of the Polish monarch, the second one of an unknown Catholic (†1980) and the third one of an anonymous (†1910).

Tombstone of Teodor Miranovich in Isfahan

Miranovich's stone gravestone bears a bilingual inscription, in Russian (Cyrillic) and Polish (in Latin script): Лета З ̃Р̃Ч ̃ Е ̃ [7195] декабря нощию К ̃S̃ [26] числа волею Божiею преставился в Испогани посланикь Королевского Величества Полского Θ .еωдоръ Мирановичъ / Lying here sinner Theodor Miranovich messenger of the King [ ^sic ] ^of Poland, decembra 26 1686 . The epitaph was moved to the cemetery from under the New Julf Cathedral (established by Shah Abbas in 1606 and still existing today in the Armenian district of Isfahan), probably when the Polish quarters were created (it is uncertain whether the ashes of the royal messenger were also moved with the tombstone).