Arg-e Bam

Arg-e Bam was a walled citadel and town built entirely of mud brick, occupied from around the Achaemenid period, its town abandoned by the late nineteenth century and its garrison in 1932, covering some 180,000 square metres with a governor's enclosure on a rock at the centre and a walled town below, and it is generally described as the largest adobe complex in the world. On 26 December 2003 an earthquake destroyed most of it along with much of the modern city, and the reconstruction that followed has been running ever since, using traditional materials and methods with international support, so what visitors see is a mixture of surviving fabric, rebuilt structures and ongoing work. The wider inscription covers the oasis around it, with its qanats and palm groves, as a cultural landscape.

History

There is no precise archaeological dating of the citadel's buildings, but the site goes back at least to the Achaemenid period; under the Parthians the fort was expanded into the Citadel of Bam, and new walls and fortifications were built between 224 and 637 under the Sasanians. After the Arab conquest of Kerman in 645 one of the Arab commanders founded the Al Rasoul mosque, one of the first mosques in Iran, and in 869 Ya'qub ibn al-Layth al-Saffar took the citadel and made it his permanent base. Islamic writers of the 10th century, who first name Bam, describe a market town famous for its cotton fabrics, its fortress, its bazaars and its palms, and under the Qarakhataian rulers of 1240 to 1363 it prospered from silk on the spice route. The citadel grew in the Safavid era, Agha Mohammad Khan, founder of the Qajar dynasty, turned it into a military complex against Afghan and Baluchi incursions, and it served as a garrison until 1932; on 26 December 2003 an earthquake brought down almost all of it, and within days Iran's president announced that it would be rebuilt (Wikipedia, Arg-e Bam).

What's there

• The governor's enclosure - the citadel on the rock at the centre.
• Rebuilt walls and gatehouse - reconstruction using traditional mud brick.
• The walled lower town - lanes, houses and a bazaar street.
• The oasis and qanats - the palm groves and water system around the citadel.

When to go

November to March; Bam is very hot the rest of the year. Half a day. Mornings are best for light and temperature. Restoration means the accessible areas change from year to year.

Good to know

Much of what stands is reconstruction rather than original fabric, and the distinction is not always signposted. Parts of the site are closed for work. There is no shade. The modern city was also devastated in 2003 and the surroundings reflect that.

Nearby

Rayen citadel is north-west; Kerman lies about three hours away.

Key facts