Dar al-Aman Castle and Chehel Berkeh, Ij

🕰️When was it built?

The castle is attributed to an order of Mahmud of the Shabankareh in the late 5th and early 6th centuries AH (late 11th and early 12th centuries). Ij was once the seat of the Shabankareh rulers, and the castle belongs to this period of the region's history.

🏛️What was it built for?

The castle was built for defence and as a base for the rulers, and it had a cistern, a mill and central buildings. Water from a spring reached the pools through channels cut into the mountain, so the supply did not depend on a single tank beside the castle.

👀What you will see

• Remains of the defensive walls stand halfway up the mountain; the complex is built of stone, gypsum and sarooj mortar.
• The castle has a northern and a southern part, and the northern part is the centre of the complex.
• The pools were carved out of the mountain rock, and water reached them through cut channels.
• The Badreh spring lies in the valley north of the castle, with a domed chahartaqi built beside it.
• Old descriptions of the site mention an iwan-like space cut into the mountain, to which a mihrab was added later.

💡Something interesting

In his book Asar-e Ajam, Forsat od-Dowleh described both the castle on the mountain and the forty stone pools, along with seven more pools near them. His account of the water's path shows that the spring, the channels and the tanks worked together.

Good to know before you go