Sheikh Makan Castle; Special Site in City of Castles
Iran was under control of different groups like Mongols, Arabs, Greeks and other groups throughout the history. They built different places in Iran with different cultures. For example, Mongols built a lot of mosques with architecture of themselves. There is a special castle with name of Sheikh Makan which is located in Darreh Shahr city in Ilam province that is known as the city of castles. At first, we familiarize you with this city and then we will explain about Sheikh Makan Castle.
Introduction
A city with age of 7000 years. It was destroyed during the invasion of Arabs and Ashur that most of destructions happened. The old name of the city was Madaktu. This city was destroyed completely under invasions of Ashur Armies and was rebuilt during Parthian Empire. This city was a part of Lorestan province and today is part of Ilam.
Sheikh Makan Castle
Most of the castles in Iran have been built in far parts of the cities or on the mounts. This shows that the castles in Iran are mostly used as military bases. Sheikh Makan Castle is located in Sheikh Makan Village, 6 kilometers southeastern of Darreh Shahr City. This Castle was built by order of Mir Mohammad Khan Poorashraf, who was the ruler of the city during Qajar era. Sheikh Makan Castle has 3 floors and 5 towers with 30 rooms. In the castle, there are hallways, small pools, bathroom, fuel Stockpile and rooms for sleeping.
Based on an inscription on the wall of the castle, here was built in the year of 1916. Area of the castle is 425 square meters. Architecture of the castle is like Sassanid. There are parts for archers which shows it was used as military base in the past. Materials of the castle are Stone, Plaster and rarely bricks, just for decorating external part.
Tower is not high and you should pass 17 stairs to be on top of it. There are poems near northern entrance of the castle on stone. Also, there are two small pools in the middle of the castle.
Water of the castle was prepared from the river near here. There is a dungeon in the eastern part of the castle that was used as a prison. There was a watermill near the river used to prepare the water of the castle but now it is destroyed. In the western part of the castle, there is a bathroom known as Poorashraf bathroom.
Address: Iran, Ilam Province, Darraeh Shahr, Sheikh Makan Castle
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