BAM

Donating to the Iranian Earthquake Relief Fund

Some pictures from Bam two month before the Earthquake.

Satellite image of BAM. (October 1, 1999)

Province of Kerman, Altitude 1,000 m. 190 km S-E of Kerman by excellent road. 330 km West of Zahedan by track. Auxiliary airfield. Iran Air flights via Kerman.

There is not much to say about Bam. What could one tell about a dead city, a funereal town, of which it is thought wise to lock the unique, heavy gate for the night so that no human being nor even animal could disturb its secular silence, nor violate its homesteads, forever in runis?

"Bam, The forgotten fortress "

Bam is a city moulded in the red clay of the Great Iranian Desert. More than three kilometers is the length of the crenellated walls, supported by dozens towers for the defense of the ancient city. Inside, a triple ring of fortifications protects the citadel perched on top of a hill. From its keep, overlooking an impenetrable mountain range to the south and the endless desert to the north, can be seen that route of trade and invasions which the Sassanid Kings already had wished to control. Subsequently the Arabs extended their sway over it, only to be superseded by the Seljuk Turks in the 11th century. In the end it was the Afghans who, with their devastation raid, in 1722, which carried them as far as Esfahan, dealt the fatal blow to the fortress of Bam, as well as to that of Kerman. The total abandonment of the old city is, however, probably of a more recent date, otherwise its runis would be in a much more dilapidated state.

"City of Bam "