Arg-e Bam Citadel

Arg-e Bam is the largest adobe structure in the world: the citadel and the walled town cover about twenty hectares on the edge of an oasis in Kerman province. The settlement arose as early as the Achaemenid period, and its heyday fell between the seventh and eleventh centuries, when Bam stood on a trade route and was famed for its cotton fabrics. A complete town fitted inside the walls: about four hundred dwelling houses, a bazaar, a mosque, a school, barracks and stables, and on a rocky outcrop at the back the ruler's residence with towers and its own well. The fortress remained inhabited until the nineteenth century. On the twenty-sixth of December 2003 an earthquake destroyed both the modern town and the citadel almost completely, and tens of thousands of people died. Restoration has gone on ever since: part of the walls and towers has been raised again from the old surveys, part has been left as ruins, and scaffolding and props are visible between the masonry. In 2004 Bam and its cultural landscape with its system of qanats were inscribed on the UNESCO list. There is a charge to enter, and part of the citadel still stands in scaffolding and props after the 2003 earthquake. There is no shade and it is unbearably hot in summer - come early in the morning or towards evening. Bam is about 200 km from Kerman, so it is usually a separate trip. Payment in cash.

On the map