Tabas Masina Castle, Darmian

🕰️When was it built?

Its exact date is not known, but because of the castle's round shape its origins are thought to go back before Islam. The complex stayed in use in the Islamic periods, and the mosque inside is a Qajar building. The castle was added to the National Heritage List on 13 April 2003 as number 8280.

🏛️What was it built for?

The castle was built to protect the people who lived there, and the moat around it was part of its defence. Inside, a mosque and a cistern met the needs of daily life; the wall was not a military building cut off from the people, and public spaces stood behind it too.

👀What you will see

• The castle's large tower is about eleven metres high and fifteen metres across, with watch openings and loopholes on its body.
• The surviving parts of the wall and towers are built of mud brick and clay and surround a round area.
• The entrance of the mosque inside the castle has a pointed arch, with blind arches and benches on either side.
• The mosque's prayer hall has four thick columns, and vaults and four-part domes cover the space between them.
• The mosque's mihrab has plaster muqarnas and a spiral decorative border; seeing it depends on whether you can go inside.

🎒Good to know before you go

• Tabas Masina is about 20 kilometres east of Asadiyeh; ask local people about the way into the castle and the mosque.