Rudkhan Castle
Interesting facts
- An inscribed plaque that once hung above the main gate, recording a renovation for Sultan Hesam al-Din, is now kept in a museum in Rasht.
- The Nizari Ismailis, the order remembered in the West as the Assassins, are credited with rebuilding and completing the fortress in the late 11th and 12th centuries.
- The castle stayed in use for well over a thousand years, from its Sasanian origins until about the Zand dynasty of the 18th century.
- Defenders watched and shot from octagonal positions set above the north and south walls, pierced with narrow slits for archers.
- The castle's main water source was a spring inside the walls; it dried up after an earthquake and was later brought back to life by Iran's heritage authorities.
- Rudkhan Castle was registered as a national heritage site of Iran in 1976.
- The humid Caspian forest is both the castle's charm and its enemy, as moisture and roots working into the masonry slowly erode its walls.
Why it is worth it
Hidden in dense forest in the hills of Gilan, Rudkhan Castle runs its brick-and-stone walls along a mountain ridge between two summits, appearing and vanishing among the trees as the path climbs. The approach is part of the experience: a long stairway of stone steps leads up through the woods from the river valley, which is why the fortress is also known as Hezar Pele, the castle of a thousand steps.
The fortress is usually traced back to the Sasanian era, and it was rebuilt in later centuries; it was held by the Nizari Ismailis, and the Seljuk period saw further work. A major reconstruction, carried out between 918 and 921 of the Islamic calendar (the early sixteenth century), is attributed to the local ruler Amira Hesam al-Din Dabbaj of Fuman, which explains another of its names, Qal'eh Hesami. Its walls run for about 1,500 metres around an area of some 2.6 hectares, punctuated by dozens of towers and bastions, and the two peaks it encloses stand at about 670 and 715 metres above sea level.
The castle is divided into two parts. The Arg, on the western summit, was the governor's residence, a two-storey brick building. The eastern section, the Qurkhaneh, served the garrison and its military stores, with two-storey guardhouses pierced by many openings. Each section has its own gates, and within the walls are a prison, an emergency exit, a bath, a spring and water reservoirs, an ice house and living quarters. The castle is listed among Iran's national monuments The river that flows below it through the forest shares its name.
Getting there
Rudkhan Castle stands near the village of Rudkhan in Fuman County, Gilan Province. The town of Fuman is about 19 km away in a straight line, around 25 km by road. The nearest airport is Sardar-e-Jangal Airport (RAS) at Rasht, about 44 km away. From the end of the road the castle is reached on foot by the stepped forest path.
Plan your visit
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Nearby places
- Masuleh 24.4 km · beautiful-village
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From the encyclopaedia
Rudkhan Castle, also Roodkhan Castle, is a brick and stone medieval fortress in Iran that was built to defend against the Arab invaders during the Muslim conquest of Persia. With the fall of the Sasanian Empire, this area became a defensive position against the Arabs in the then-newly established Tabarestan.
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