Bam is one of the oldest urban centers in Iran. The city of Bam is one of the historical and ancient cities of Kerman; the fame of this city is so great that if they want to show a tourist a historical photo of Iran, one of them is definitely the citadel of Bam. The city is world-famous for its history and agriculture.
Arg Bam
Bam Citadel is located in the northeast of Bam city in Kerman. Bam citadel is connected to Bam River from the north, to the old glacier from the east and part of the remains of Rasool mosque and gate gardens, from the south to the newly built citadel park and part of Hafezabad neighborhood and from the west to Mazar Khajeh Morad neighborhood. Bam citadel includes the old city and the nearby castle, that has an area of about 20 hectares. The area of the citadel and the castle is close to about six thousand hectares.
The upper part also includes the citadel and the military command, and its buildings are in front of the castle. This complex includes various architectural forms such as fence walls, towers and bar, various gates, mosque, bazaar, pit, caravanserai, school, bath, zurkhaneh and residential neighborhoods with aristocratic and poor houses, governorate with stables, factory, commander’s house The tribal forces and the ruling party also have a four-story mansion and a watchtower.
There is disagreement about the time of formation of the historical citadel of Bam. It is considered to be related to the Achaemenid period or even to the Parthian period. But most of the buildings that were erected before the earthquake are attributed to the Timurid period to Qajar. Parts such as the porches of mosques with different scales and sizes are reminiscent of older ones (such as the fourth century from the Samanid period to the seventh century AH in the Seljuk period). Apparently, the citadel of Bam became uninhabited during the Qajar period. Of course, there are doubts in this issue.
Bam Citadel is the largest brick building in the world. This monument is located on the Silk Road.
The whole building is a large fortress in the center of that is the citadel of Bam, but due to the greatness and majesty of the citadel, that is located in the highest part of the complex, the whole building of the citadel of Bam citadel is called.
In some houses there are private bathrooms and next to some of them there are stables separate from the living area. A number of citadel houses were built on 2 floors, regardless of the resistance of the columns. The people of Bam Citadel had activities such as agriculture and carpet weaving. From the second gate of this citadel, the ruling part of the citadel has a view, which is located at the top of the mountain. The water tank and well were located next to the animal stables. Basically, the drinking water of Arg neighborhood was supplied from a well in the yard of the house. It had an entrance whose entrance arch is comparable to the arches of the Sassanid period. It should be noted that the citadel of Bam has a main road from the southern part to the ruler and has two passages in its direction and the eastern and western parts. In the third gate were the buildings of military commanders. The windmill that has been in Bam citadel since the Qajar period is located in the southwestern part of the castle. The ruling part has 2 buildings of 4 seasons and the ruling house, central watchtower, bath, pond and well.
Bam citadel has great value in terms of architecture and urban planning due to various issues such as having different types of historical buildings and residential neighborhoods and how to combine and connect them together and how the building is located on a hillside and the whole complex at the end of the building.
Area of Bam Citadel
The area of this historical place is about 180,000 square meters, that is surrounded by walls with a size of 6 to 7 meters and a length of 1815 meters. This citadel consists of two separate parts, each of that has unique features. There are about 67 towers in this ancient complex of Bam.
Bam Citadel is located in the center of Bam city and is located in the highest part in terms of military and security.
The government unit is located in the innermost wall and has a military fortress, a 4-season mansion, a barracks, a water well about 40 meters deep and stables with a capacity of 200 horses.
The peasant settlement, which is located around the government section and includes the main entrance of the city, the main route connecting the entrance of the city to the fort and the bazaar, and then there are about 400 houses and public buildings such as schools and sports venues.
There are 3 types of houses in this complex.
1- Houses with 2 or 3 rooms were allocated for poorer and weaker families.
2. Houses with 3-4 rooms for middle class families, some of them even had porches.
3- Better and more aristocratic houses with more rooms with a large yard and a stable nearby for animals.
All the houses are made of clay and Bam Citadel is one of the largest collections of clay and mud in the world.
Security and protection:
No animals or humans could enter the city when the entrance gates were closed. The inhabitants of the city could live for a long time through water wells, gardens and domestic animals inside the citadel. The city was guarded by soldiers and high walls and towers.
Bam Citadel Ventilation System:
Bam citadel has beautiful towers and walls and also has very beautiful windbreaks. These wind deflectors were built to capture the wind and direct it into the building. Sometimes ponds were placed inside the buildings to cool the space and eliminate dust when the wind entered and collided with the pool water. Single-structure wind deflectors were used for small spaces and four-structure wind deflectors were used for larger spaces.
