The Gouged stronghold is located in the city of Gouged,

Golpayegan county Golpayegan County () is in Isfahan, Iran. Its capital is the city of Golpayegan. Demographics Population In 1339-40 Golpayegan had some fifty villages, yielding the annual revenue of 42,000 dinars to the state, hinting that the city was ve ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. Gouged is located 5 km to the north of

Golpayegan Golpayegan () is a city in the Central District of Golpayegan County, Isfahan, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. The city is northwest of Isfahan and southeast of Arak, at an altitude of 1,830 m. Its temperat ...

. In peacetime, the stronghold was used as a caravansary, but during war time or when bandits attacked, it was used as a

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

. This structure is located in the Golpayegani

alley An alley or alleyway is a narrow lane, footpath, path, or passageway, often reserved for pedestrians, which usually runs between, behind, or within buildings in towns and cities. It is also a rear access or service road (back lane), or a path, w ...

and Ghale alley. At present, the stronghold is used as a traditional three star hotel. The Gouged stronghold is one of the biggest

adobe Adobe (from arabic: الطوب Attub ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for mudbrick. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is use ...

and

mud Mud (, or Middle Dutch) is loam, silt or clay mixed with water. Mud is usually formed after rainfall or near water sources. Ancient mud deposits hardened over geological time to form sedimentary rock such as shale or mudstone (generally cal ...

structures in Iran. It was built approximately 400 years ago. The only document related to this structure dates back to 140 years ago. By this document, Ali Khan Bakhtiari gave half of the stronghold to his wife as

mahr In Islam, a mahr (in ; ; Bengali: দেনমোহর; ; ; ; also transliterated ''mehr'', ''meher'', ''denmohor, mehrieh'', or ''mahriyeh'') is the bride wealth obligation, in the form of money, possessions or teaching of verses from the Qur ...

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