Bam Citadel

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 cultural heritage site. This enormous citadel, situated on the famous Silk Way, 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.

Dimensions

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 eathquake, 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 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 BambooWeb. Its sources were:

• Nimrokhi az Arge Bam (Bam Citadel at a Glance), by Davood Yousofzadeh, Bam: M. Mohammadi-zade, 1998, p160