The antiquity of Bam citadel, which is the largest and vastest integrated adobe construction in the world, dates back to the 5th century B.C. people used to inhabit this citadel until 150 years ago, but little by little they began to move to the nearby regions.
The area of Bam Citadel is more than 18 hectares, comprising two separate parts, the governmental area which is located in the very central part of the citadel, and the area belonging to the peasants (ordinary people) which has surrounded the governmental area. Also, the tall walls of the citadel, which are more than 7 meters high, have surrounded the peasants’ area. It seems that in the past, if the city was under attack, people would gather in this citadel and the gates would be closed.
Due to the presence of water wells and the ability to keep domestic animals, they could have survived for years in the same circumstance. This citadel and the cultural district surrounding it, which were registered in the UNESCO World Heritage List, suffered a lot of earthquake damage in 2003 (due to the earth quack occurrence in Bam), and was rehabilitated after the earthquake with financial and technical assistance of UNESCO and other countries such as Japan, Italy, and France. One of the remarkable points of this citadel is the existence of the wind towers or wind catchers (a traditional Iranian architectural element to create natural ventilation in buildings). The wind towers caused the weather to cool down and enter the buildings during the hot summer. Each building has larger or smaller wind towers due to its importance and vastness.
