Kolah Farangi Citadel

🕰️When was it built?

Its exact date is not known, but the building is attributed to the late Zand and the Qajar eras. The citadel was added to the National Heritage List in 1997, and its old names include the Hesam al-Dowleh Citadel and Qasr-e Bibi Arus. Amir Alam Khozeimeh gave the building to the Birjand governorate.

🏛️What was it built for?

The citadel was once a seat of government, and the rooms and spaces of the ground floor connect through a vestibule and passages. The pool room is at the centre of this floor, with the entrances around it opening onto it. The building stands inside a government compound, so whether you can go inside has to be checked separately.

👀What you will see

• The white body of the building rises in shrinking floors to a conical top.
• The entrance projects in front of the ground floor, and several arches shape its vaults.
• The octagonal pool room lies about a metre below the main floor, with low platforms built around it.
• The muqarnas, rasmi-bandi and honeycomb karbandi around the pool room, to be seen only if you are allowed in.
• The skylights of the kolah-farangi part bring light down to the pool room; notice how the lower and upper parts of the building connect.

💡Something interesting

Not all the floors you see from outside are usable rooms. Several of the upper floors were built to shape the facade, so the tall, stepped look of the citadel does not match the amount of space inside.

Good to know before you go