Visit The Ancient City of Bam

Part of the Bam Ruins
Governor’s Section at the Ancient City of Bam
The ancient city of Bam and its protective walls
The ancient city of Bam and its protective walls

The ancient city of Bam, a world heritage site registered in UNESCO’s list, has emerged at least at the time of Achaemenians (6th to 4th centuries). The flourishing time of Bam traces back to 7th to 11th centuries when it was at the crossroad of ancient trade routes. This city started to be inhabited since Achaemenian period until around 200 years ago. After that, it was used as a military station for soldiers until approximately 80 years ago.

The creation of the ancient city of Bam was indebted mainly to the ancient underground water supplement system of Iran called Kariz (qanat in Arabic). This system has been continuing the provision of water for this city till now.

Whereabouts of Ancient City of Bam

It has been located between the Southern part of Kavir-e-Lut, Southern desert pit of Iran, and the Northern part of Barez local mountain range, South East of Iran. The importance of Bam has been due to its geographical location on a broader scale, in connection to the centers of commerce in Western Asia during antiquity.

Originally, like any other communities at or inside deserts, the city was surrounded by protective walls and its governor was living within another walled section, a citadel, inside the walled town. The entire walled city of Bam was 200,000 square meters. Desert towns felt safer this way and could grow much more confidently. The surrounding wall is as long as 1810 meters and its height varies from 15 to 18 meters. There seems to have been 38 watchtowers along this wall and a deep moat outside the city’s walls, which was filled with water at the times of danger.

Apart from the walled town and its citadel being the central focus of this valley, the cultural landscape of Bam is connected to a series of forts and citadels now destroyed. Today you may see a fortress of 7th century called Qale Dokhtar at the North of Bam and a couple of shrines dated back to 11th and 12th centuries – Emamzadeh Asiri and Emamzadeh Zeyd mausoleums.

Various Parts of Ancient City of Bam

visit the ancient city of Bam
visit the ancient city of Bam

What makes the ancient city of Bam unique in regards to its construction is the vernacular technique applied there: Traditionally, the architects have used mud layers (Chineh), sun-dried mud bricks (khesht), and vaulted and domed structures. This is the best example of desert architecture that you will find in several parts of Iran around the deserts. No matter which part of the city we visit, we will see the same style and technique applied to the structures.

The ancient walled city of Bam consists of 2 main sections for the governor (citadel) and common people. The Governor’s section, built on top of rock higher than the rest of the city, includes royal stable, garrison and governor’s house. The common people’s section spreads out from the foot of the governor’s section to the city walls in a relatively flat area, has got all including what a city required: 528 residential houses, the main bazaar, Meydan (Tekieh), Friday mosque, Mirza Naeem School, Zurkhaneh (traditional sports club), Malek-o-Tojar House (a merchant house), caravansary, public bathhouse (hammam), Jews’ Sabat (rest area) and a noble’s house.

Some of the most important structures are:

Bazaar

It’s 115 meters long accommodating 42 shops in it. It used to offer silk and cotton fabrics to the traders traveling on the spice route, a sub-branch of the silk route.

Friday Mosque

It was built on the site of a former temple, a Zoroastrians’ fire temple, with four eyvans (porticoes), later changed to three.

Zurkhaneh

The tradition of building such clubs dates back to ancient times in Iran when this sport was exercised.

Mirza Na’eim School

it’s a beautifully built structure consisting of two sections of the interior (living quarter for the teacher) and exterior (studying quarter for the students).

What separates the common people’s section from the governors’ is the government’s reinforced gate. There are two rooms attached to this gate when you enter with their upper floors for the guards. After you cross this gate, you will see a different section. First, you go to the left where the royal stable is located. You turn right and go through a garrison where the governor’s soldiers and guards were stationed. A corridor on the right side leads you to a steep slope that goes up first toward the commander’s house on the right and eventually leads to the top, the house of the governor.

part of Ancient City of Bam
part of Ancient City of Bam

The main part of this section is where the Bam’s governor used to live:

House of Governor: it consists of summer eyvan, winter eyvan, and open space. There’s a building called a four-season mansion. It could be used during all seasons as the name implies. It was a three-story building. On top of all, there’s a watchtower square in the base, which used to be circular and changed shape under Qajars after some destruction. Behind all parts of the governor’s section, there’s a private bath.

Water Supplement System at Bam

Apart from the Kariz system that brought water from Barez Mountains to the vicinity of the walled town and was transferred inside the walled city of Bam through a U-shaped pipe, many houses had their own wells. There was a deeper well halfway to the top at the garrison and one well, the deepest, next to the private bath of the governor. Some water canals are on the surface for the irrigation of the trees.

Water supplement helps the irrigation of palm trees
Water supplement helps the irrigation of palm trees

Bam’s Present Condition

Outside the walled city, as time passed by, the population grew and the security is the region was supported, some new houses were built and people started relocating to those houses. The centers of business moved outside and main places for religious ceremonies went outside the city walls. There are several palm tree areas and many trees along the streets shaping a garden city out there. Gradually, the walled city was evacuated and the new city of Bam was formed.

Some started looting the ancient city for the antiques, some for its fired bricks, and some for the old soil to be used for their gardens. All these contributed to the tear and wear of the ancient walled city of Bam.

The 2003 earthquake largely devastated the new city and the ancient city of Bam. The newly restored city has kept its city planning and the ancient monuments’ restoration is underway. Fortunately, the foundations of several walls were still standing after the earthquake. This made the restoration job move convenient.

The city is undergoing more restoration these days, but it’s worth some exploration. Even before the earthquake when several world travelers visited the city, it wasn’t complete and intact. When you go to the ancient city of Bam, you see more or less what could be seen before 2003’s natural disaster.

For more World Heritage sites, go to:

Iranian tangible cultural heritage sites in UNESCO List!

Comments 2
    1. You should be there at sunset Becky. Before I had a digital camera, I used to take several shots of the sunset every other minutes. The colors change on the clay and I’m sure you would love to see that.

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