Beyazeh Castle, an impregnable fortress

jahanegardesh – Khor city is one of the desert regions, which has many attractions in terms of tourist places due to its geographical location, and in fact, spending moments in the lap of this pristine nature is an issue that attracts every tourist, blue sky and far away. No pollution, the salt lake and palm trees located in this area along with sand dunes are only part of these attractions…

درباره قلعه بیاضه

Bayazeh castle or citadel is an old castle located 53 km from Khor and Biyabank in Nain city in Bayazeh village. This multi-storied building with a wide and deep moat and a wide and interconnected adobe complex around it is an example of a desert citadel and fortress. This building, which is related to the Sasanian period, was originally a pole for the ruler of Biabank. In Nasser Khosro’s travelogue, it is also confirmed that this district – Biyabank – consists of 12 parts of villages, the center of which is Biyazah.

This ancient fortress with the Sassanid architectural style has had defensive and residential functions for centuries and was the base of Hassan Sabah’s supporters during the Ismaili period.

This citadel is located in the heart of a sparsely populated village where you will not see anything except two shops and a bakery and some old men sitting together. If it wasn’t for the spring of the aqueduct that flows in winter and summer, surely those few people would have migrated.

Many rooms and different floors of the castle were used as a storage place for the villagers’ property and grain store until a few years ago.

This castle is considered to be a good attraction for domestic and foreign tourists, along with ancient monuments such as goldsmiths’ market, Jame Mosque, old Hosseinieh, and the presence of a thousand-year-old olive tree.

This legendary castle is famous for being impregnable.

Beyazeh Castle – Photo by Aria Sir Dalahu

Architectural features of Beyazeh fortress

Beyazeh fortress is surrounded by a moat with a depth of 7 to 13 meters, and a part of the moat around it was filled in 1367 by ignorant people to build a road. Inside there are many chambers and winding corridors. Numerous wells and the internal canal of the moat are other equipments of the castle. Hand mills and three arenas are among its other structures. What is certain is that this fort accommodated a population of about 2,500 people in its five floors and the necessary facilities were provided for all these people.

At present, its high ramparts have been destroyed and its big towers are slowly falling apart. Passing through the wooden door of the castle, you will see small nested rooms with large jars, narrow corridors and clay and mud stairs. The water spring that passes through the middle of the ten after passing behind the castle to irrigate the agricultural land that ends in the ten.

The provision of air conditioning for the lower floors of this castle shows the sharpness and accuracy of Iranians a thousand years ago. The two floors of this castle were also underground, and over time, its rooms were filled and no traces of it remained, and only its two floors are open to tourists.

Historical background of Beyazeh Citadel

The village of Bayazeh and its castle are mentioned in the books of Ahsan al-Taqasim, Ibn Hawqal’s land map, Nasser Khusro’s travel book, and also in a document known as the war book of Imamzadeh Abu Muhammad Ibrahim (who is buried in this village).

According to Nasser Khosrow’s travelogue, she stopped in this village and according to her in “Piade” while crossing the route from Nain to Tabas, and she mentioned its old castle in her travelogue.

It is about 30 minutes from Garmeh to Bayazeh, but there is an interesting point from the geographical point of view that all the mentioned regions in Egypt are except Isfahan province, but Bayazeh village is defined as part of Yazd province. Beyazeh Citadel or Beyazeh Castle is about three thousand years old, this Sasanian building, like other forts, has both a residential use and a defensive use, which is built on two floors on the ground and two floors below the ground, winding corridors, small rooms. It has many and deep wells. The architecture of this fort is built with such intelligence, sophistication and elegance that it is very suitable for space and air conditioning even in the lower floors. Another feature of this fort is its strength and impregnability, due to a moat with a depth of 7 to 13 meters and four tall watchtowers around the fort so that the watchers can see the attack of evildoers and bandits from afar and to the people. inform In Beyazeh fortress, there are hundreds of rooms that are built as corridors. Some rooms are one meter and some are two meters and few rooms are 6 meters. There are about 700 rooms in this 7-story fortress. Once upon a time, these rooms were the living quarters of 2,500 people in critical situations such as bandits attack. The ancient fortress of Bayazeh was one of the bases of Hassan Sabah’s supporters during the Ismaili period. Among the equipment inside the castle are numerous wells, the internal canal of the moat, hand mills and three arenas. The items inside this fort are more than a century old, it is full of jars and sieves made of sheep intestines and carpet weaving and dyeing tools…

According to Nasser Khosro in his valuable travelogue, he stayed in Bayazeh village on the way from Nain to Tabas and mentioned this place as the old castle. and invited to visit this ancient castle.

Beyazeh Castle is also called Naranj Castle or Narin Castle.

In this village, there is an aqueduct that flows in winter and summer, which is the motivation and enthusiasm of the people of this village, according to the people of Bayazeh.

Next to the castle, there is a market, a mosque, a hosseinieh, and a thousand-year-old olive tree.

In contemporary times, Western travelers such as Son Hedin, Alphonse Gabriel and MacKregor have spoken about it while passing through the central desert of Iran.

In the attack of Naib Hossein Kashi and his army to the desert plains in the seals of 1327-1328 AH, all the castles of the region fell from Nain to Tabas, but the attackers were unable to conquer the castle despite the cannons. Masha’Allah Khan, the son of Naib Hussain, insisted that his forces stay in the area until the capture of the last fort in the desert, in a threatening letter, he demanded the surrender of the villagers, but they responded to him with this poem based on the existing fortifications, defense preparation and the location of the fort:

Either we hit the enemy’s head with a stone or she hangs a pendulum on our head

The story in this colorful story is one killed by the name, to which one hundred lives are disgraced

Finally, the attackers were forced to leave the area due to the persistence of the castle dwellers.