Series
Arg-é Bam is a fortified city in the small town of Bam about 200km South of Kerman. It was the main reason for me to visit the area. While I had already seen old mud cities in the Iranian desert, the sheer size of Bam makes it truly impressive. The city is surrounded by a fortification wall with 36 towers, and housed 11,000 people at one time. It is a remote outpost on the overland Spice Road between India and the Persian Gulf. Today Bam is recognized as growing the best dates in Iran.
The city dates from the early Sassanian-era (around AD200) and had a mixed population of Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians until the arrival of Islam. It was first abandoned during an invasion in 1722 by the Afghans; and the remaining inhabitants were massacred in 1794 when the Qajar ruler Agha Muhammed Khan found the last ruler of the previous dynasty, Lotfalli Khan, in its walls.
I came twice to the citadel, and both times managed to be completely alone inside its walls. I suspect that the few tourists that come to Iran avoid the period of Ramadan to tour the country — which I would also have done if I had planned a little more... But if you are able to run around on an empty stomach its quite nice for picture taking. What impressed me most about the city was its organic architecture, the play between the different volumes and their interactions with light, the seemingly unplanned yet highly effective organization of the ensemble... I managed to stay inside the fortified city after nightfall and roamed the streets in complete darkness which was quite creepy... Eventually hunger drove me out. The next day, I was talking to one of the guards and he showed me jars with scorpions and snakes that he caught in there... Sometimes its better not to know.
Update: On Dec 26 2003 a terrible earthquake destroyed Arg-é Bam and most of the city of Bam itself.