Falak-ol-Aflak Castle

Falak-ol-Aflak stands on a natural rock outcrop above Khorramabad, founded in the Sassanid period and rebuilt many times since, a brick and stone fortress with eight towers around two courtyards, occupying about five thousand square metres on the summit. It served in turn as a citadel, a treasury, a governor's residence and, in the twentieth century, a prison, before being restored and opened as a museum covering the archaeology and ethnography of Lorestan, including the region's famous Bronze Age bronzes and Bakhtiari and Lur material culture. The rock beneath contains a large water cistern cut into it. The position gives a view over the whole city and the surrounding mountains, and the castle is floodlit at night.

History

The castle, also called Shapur Khast, was built in the Sasanian era, which lasted from 224 to 651, on a hill whose eastern and south-western sides are guarded by the Khorramabad River. In the Pahlavi era it was used as a prison until 1968 and then turned into a museum complex (Wikipedia, Falak-ol-Aflak).

What you'll find

• Eight towers on a rock - the fortress plan above the city.
• Lorestan bronzes - the region's Bronze Age metalwork, the strength of the museum destroyed in March 2026; check what is on show.
• The rock-cut cistern - a large water store beneath the courtyards.
• The city view - Khorramabad and the mountains from the walls.

When to go

April to June and September to October. Two hours. Evenings when the castle is floodlit are the local view of it. Summer in Khorramabad is hot and the rock offers no shade.

Things to know

On 8 March 2026 several parts of the castle were damaged and its museum was destroyed, so check whether the site is open and what, if anything, of the collection can be seen. The interior has been heavily restored and much of the fabric is modern. Museum labelling is largely in Persian. The climb up to the entrance is steep. There is little English interpretation of the bronzes, which is the collection's strength.

Nearby

The Khorramabad valley caves are nearby; Bisheh waterfall lies north-east.

Key facts