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The Arg-é Bam (ارگ بم in Persian, "Bam citadel") was the largest adobe building in the world, located in Bam, a city in the Kerman province of southeastern Iran. It is recorded by Unesco as a World Heritage Site. This enormous citadel, situated on the famous Silk Road, was built some time before 500 BC and remained in use until 1850 AD. It is not known for certain why it was then abandoned.
The entire building was a large fortress in whose heart the citadel itself was located, but because of the impressive look of the citadel, which forms the highest point, the entire fortress is named the Bam Citadel.
On December 26, 2003, the Citadel was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake, along with much of the rest of Bam and its environs (see the article on Bam for details). A few days after the earthquake, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami announced that the Citadel would be rebuilt.
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Dimensions
Larger than nearby Arg-é Rayen, the area of Bam Citadel is approximately 180,000 square meters, and it is surrounded by gigantic walls 6-7 metres high and 1815 metres long. The citadel features two of the "stay-awake towers" for which Bam is famed - there are as many as 67 such towers scattered across the ancient city of Bam.
Citadel design and architecture
The planning and architecture of the citadel are ingeniously thought out from various different points of view. From the present form of the citadel one can see that the planner(s) had forseen the entire final form of the building and city from the first steps in the planning/drawing process. During each phase of building development the already-built part enjoyed a complete figure, and each additional part could be "sewn" to the already-built section seamlessly.
The citadel is situated in the center of the fortress-city, on the highest place to enjoy the longest and widest view for security reasons. The notable impression left by the citadel caused the entire surrounding fortress structure to be included under the name "Bam Citadel" as well.
In the architectural form of Bam Citadel there are two different distinguishable parts:
- The rulers' part in the most internal wall, holding the citadel, barracks, mill, 4-sezonan house, water-well (dug in the rocky earth and about 40 metres deep), and a stall for 200 horses.
- The ruled-over part surrounding the rulers' place, consisting of the main entrace of the entire fortress-city and the bazaar alongside of the North-to-South spinal axis (which connects the main entrance to the citadel), and around 400 houses with their associated public buildings (such as a school and sport place).
Among the houses, three different types are recognizable:
- Smaller houses with 2-3 rooms for the poor families.
- Bigger houses with 3-4 rooms for the middle social class, some of which have also a veranda.
- The most luxurious houses with more rooms oriented in different directions suitable for different seasons of the year, together with big a court and a stall for animals nearby. There are few of this type of houses in the fortress.
All buildings are made of non-baked clay bricks, i.e. adobes. Bam Citadel was probably, prior to the 2003 earthquake, the biggest adobe structure in the world.
Security
When the gate of the city was closed, no human or animal could enter. The inhabitants could continue living for an long period of time in isolation as they had access to a well, gardens, cattle and other domestic animals inside. When the fortress-city was besieged the inhabitants could remain in the city while the soldiers could suitably defend it, protected by the high walls and towers.
Air conditioning
Besides the watch towers and ornamented tops of the high walls on the skyline of the fortress, the wind-catchers or wind-towers (in Persian: badgir) are also remarkable. They are special structures sticking out of the different buildings in order to catch the pleasant wind and lead it down into the internal spaces of the buildings. Sometime the captured wind is passed over the surface of a water basin in the building to cool it, and to remove the dust and dryness of the desert air. Different types of wind-towers are utilized for different buildings. For example there are 4-directional wind-towers for bigger and more important buildings, which are able to catch the winds which blow from different directions during different times in the day and night in all seasons, and there are 1-directional wind-towers for smaller buildings.
Tourism
Since the middle of the 19th century, the fortress began to be abandoned for some unknown reasons. Prior to the December 26, 2003 earthquake it was one of the best tourist attractions in the region and was visited by a large number of domestic and foreign tourists each year.
References
The original text was a translation by of the article "Bam-Citadelo", originally written in Esperanto language by Asad Mahbub, first appeared in Irana Esperantisto (Iranian Esperantist), No. 4, Year 2, Summer 2003, 40 p., pp.5-7. Permission has been granted for its use in Wikipedia. Its sources were:
- Nimrokhi az Arge Bam (Bam Citadel at a Glance), by Davood Yousofzadeh, Bam: M. Mohammadi-zade, 1998, p160
See also
- List of Iranian castles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Castles_in_Iran)
External links
- Bam Citadel site, with photos (http://www.caroun.com/Countries/Asia/Iran/Kerman/BamCitadel.html)
- Another site (http://www.irancaravan.com/Nh03.htm#Bam)
- Iranian site with many photos (http://www.iiees.ac.ir/bam_pic1.html)
- More photos of the citadel (http://www.monkeyview.net/id/601/default/bam_citadel.vhtml)eo:Bam-Citadelo ja:アルゲ・バム