Southeastern Iran - Iran - page 466

Central Bam

Sights

1 Arg-e Bam B1

Sleeping

2 Akbar Tourist Guest House B3

Eating

3 Bagh-e Khannevadeh A3

Transport

4 Bus Terminal A4

5 Buses and Savaris to Kerman, Mahan & Jiroft A4

Arg-e Bamمب گرا
(admission free; 24hr) The ancient mud city of Bam is the largest adobe structure on
earth and, until the 2003 earthquake, it was one of the jewels in Iran's tourism crown. The
site has been occupied for almost 2000 years and post-earthquake analysis revealed the
walls were first built using Sassanian-style mud bricks.
Bam was a staging post on the trade routes between India and Pakistan at one end and
the Persian Gulf and Europe at the other. Visitors, including Marco Polo, were awestruck
by the city's 38 towers, huge mud walls and fairy-tale citadel - the Arg-e Bam.
Today the Arg is the largest adobe building project on earth. Using mainly traditional
methods, about 150 archaeologists, engineers and labourers are rebuilding the outer walls,
the main citadel and a few buildings in the surrounding town. As team leader Afshin
Ebrahimi told us, there is no plan to rebuild everything but by the time you read this, visit-
ors should be able to climb onto the outer ramparts, to reach parts of the main citadel and
sip tea in the teahouse above its main gate.
It's a complex and painstaking job. As a former director of reconstruction told us,
'every building is different, built at different times using different materials. We must try
to rebuild each building using materials as close as possible to those they were originally

CITADEL