The Jalali Castle is located in

Kashan Kashan (; ) is a city in the Central District (Kashan County), Central District of Kashan County, in the northern part of Isfahan province, Isfahan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. History Earlies ...

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 ...

History

The walls around Kashan were built originally by Zobeyde Khatun,

Harun al-Rashid Abū Jaʿfar Hārūn ibn Muḥammad ar-Rāshīd (), or simply Hārūn ibn al-Mahdī (; or 766 – 24 March 809), famously known as Hārūn al-Rāshīd (), was the fifth Abbasid caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate, reigning from September 786 unti ...

's wife. She sponsored many developmental activities in the different cities of

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic countries. Early in the

Seljukid The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; , ''Saljuqian'',) alternatively spelled as Saljuqids or Seljuk Turks, was an Oghuz Turkic, Sunni Muslim dynasty that gradually became Persianate and contributed to Turco-Persian culture. The founder of t ...

era,

Malik-Shah I Malik-Shah I (, ) was the third sultan of the Seljuk Empire from 1072 to 1092, under whom the sultanate reached the zenith of its power and influence. During his youth, he spent his time participating in the campaigns of his father Alp Arslan, ...

ordered the repair of the walls and the strengthening of two of its

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 ...

s and that the Jalali castle be built in the western part of the city. According to some historical documents there was a

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...

around the castle in that time. The castle,

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

and ramparts around the city of Kashan have protected its people very well down the centuries. For example, in 1138, Malek-Seljuk sieged Kashan for three months, but because of the strong fortification of Kashan, he could not capture the city and only destroyed some of the neighbouring villages. In 1198, Miajegh, the khwarazmid commander launched a military campaign against Kashan, but after four months ineffective siege of the city, he could only plunder the nearby villages, as Malek Seljuk had done. During these sieges the tower and ramparts were damaged severely because of stones and

fire pot A fire pot is a container, usually earthenware, for carrying fire. Fire pots have been used since prehistoric times to transport fire from one place to another, for warmth while on the move, for cooking, in religious ceremonies and even as weapo ...

s thrown by the

mangonel The mangonel, also called the traction trebuchet, was a type of trebuchet used in Ancient China starting from the Warring States period, and later across Eurasia by the 6th century AD. Unlike the later counterweight trebuchet, the mangonel was ...

s of the invaders, but the destruction was repaired each time. In the early

Safavid The Guarded Domains of Iran, commonly called Safavid Iran, Safavid Persia or the Safavid Empire, was one of the largest and longest-lasting Iranian empires. It was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often considered the begi ...

era, the castle was used by outlaws and bandits as their cover and base. Therefore,

Ismail I Ismail I (; 17 July 1487 – 23 May 1524) was the founder and first shah of Safavid Iran, ruling from 1501 until his death in 1524. His reign is one of the most vital in the history of Iran, and the Safavid period is often considered the beginn ...

ordered the destruction of the castle, but for unknown reasons the order was not executed, instead a few developmental measures were taken and repairs to the castle were carried out making it stronger and more impregnable. According to the historical documents, the walls of the castle were 4 m thick and 6 m high at that time.' The consequence of the impregnability of the walls was the riot of Mohammad Khan Torkaman in the Safavid era, who misused the weakness of then-government in the time of

Mohammad Khodabanda Mohammad Khodabanda (also spelled Khodabandeh; , born 1532; died 1595 or 1596) was the fourth Safavid dynasty, Safavid shah of Safavid Iran, Iran from 1578 until his overthrow in 1587 by his son Abbas I of Persia, Abbas I. Khodabanda had succeed ...

and rebelled and used this strong shelter as his base. Under the cover of the castle, Mohammad Khan Torkaman was a nightmare for the defenseless people of Kashan and the villages around it for 12 years. Torkaman's wickedness even reached the Safavid house and

Khayr al-Nisa Begum Khayr al-Nisa Begum (; known under the royal title ''Mahd-i Ulya'' (), "the highest-ranked cradle"; died 26 July 1579) was an Iranian Mazandarani princess from the Marashi dynasty, who was the wife of the Safavid shah (king) Mohammad Khodabanda ...

, the mother of Abbas I, was killed by one of the Torkaman's men in

Isfahan Isfahan or Esfahan ( ) is a city in the Central District (Isfahan County), Central District of Isfahan County, Isfahan province, Iran. It is the capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is located south of Tehran. The city ...

. After that Abbas I. put on the royal crown, he immediately suppressed the rebellion and killed Torkaman and his men. After the quelling of the riot, because of peace and stability in the era of Abbas I until the late Safavid age, the inner structures of the castle were destroyed gradually and only the thick wall, towers and Yakhchals, which were built with

mudbrick Mudbrick or mud-brick, also known as unfired brick, is an air-dried brick, made of a mixture of mud (containing loam, clay, sand and water) mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw. Mudbricks are known from 9000 BCE. From ...

s, remained. The gradual destruction of the castle was not the only historical misfortune of this defense structure. After the

Afghan Afghan or Afgan may refer to: Related to Afghanistan *Afghans, historically refers to the Pashtun people. It is both an ethnicity and nationality. Ethnicity wise, it refers to the Pashtuns. In modern terms, it means both the citizens of Afghanist ...

s invaded, they damaged the castle severely, but in the era of

Nader Shah Nader Shah Afshar (; 6 August 1698 or 22 October 1688 – 20 June 1747) was the founder of the Afsharid dynasty of Iran and one of the most powerful rulers in Iranian history, ruling as shah of Iran (Persia) from 1736 to 1747, when he was a ...

, it was partly repaired. The earthquake of 1778 in Kashan destroyed the towers and ramparts of Jalali castle even more, but by the order of

Karim Khan Mohammad Karim Khan Zand (; ) was the founder of the Zand dynasty, ruling all of Iran (Persia) except for Khorasan from 1751 to 1779. He also ruled over some of the Caucasian lands and occupied Basra for some years. While Karim was ruler, Ir ...

the castle was repaired again by the governor of Kashan, Abdolrazzagh Khan and two gates were added to the five gates of the castle. The moat, which was dug again around the castle was the most important cause of

Agha Mohammad Khan Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar (; 14 March 1742 – 17 June 1797), also known by his regnal name of Agha Mohammad Shah (), was the founder of the Qajar dynasty of Qajar Iran, Iran, ruling from 1789 to 1797 as Shah. Originally a chieftain of the Quwanlu ...

's failure for capturing the city. The last battle of the castle was during the

Persian Constitutional Revolution The Persian Constitutional Revolution (, or ''Enghelāb-e Mashrūteh''), also known as the Constitutional Revolution of Iran, took place between 1905 and 1911 during the Qajar Iran, Qajar era. The revolution led to the establishment of a Majl ...

in the time of Nayeb Hossein Khan Kashi's bandits and his sons. The most important

gate A gate or gateway is a point of entry to or from a space enclosed by walls. The word is derived from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*gatan'', meaning an opening or passageway. Synonyms include yett (which comes from the same root w ...

of the

was the Dolat gate. It was important because of the neighboring buildings like the

bazaar A bazaar or souk is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, Central Asia, North Africa and South Asia. They are traditionally located in vaulted or covered streets th ...

and a

caravansary A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was an inn that provided lodging for travelers, merchants, and caravans. They were present throughout much of the Islamic world. Depending on the region and period, they were called by a variety of names inc ...

. Because of the contemporary expansion of the city, the neighboring buildings have been destroyed.

References

External links

Wall

Yakhchal

{{Seljuk castles Buildings and structures in Kashan Medieval history of Iran Ice trade Castles in Iran Seljuk castles National works of Iran

History

See also

References

External links