The Vali Castle : A Monument of Qajar Period in Ilam City

TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The Vali Castle was built in the year 1326 (Lunar Hegira) on the order of Gholamreza Khan Fili in an area called Hossein Abad Fili which was known as the Upper Village, on the hill of Chega Mirak in the middle of a mountain of the Ilam region, west of Iran.

 The castle has a height of about 4 meters with the facade facing south and 

almost trapezoidal in shape with the foundations equal to 1466 / 01 square 

meters and 1363 / 4 square meters of internal courtyard area.

On the north side there is a main hall (shahneshin) whose dimensions and 

internal dimensions are larger than the other rooms. At the center of the 

living room there is a small fountain decorated around and inside with 

marble that during the reconstruction was embellished with colored tiles.

This fountain was built near a spring which at that time was rich in water but 

with the passage of time it dried up. The presence of cross-linked 

parapets in turquoise bricks, covered terraces on the south side, along 

with lattice windows with colored glass, the columns with circular section, 

the ones carved in the iwan, the vaulted arches, the decorations and the 

workings on of them with colored tiles, the tall and ancient pine trees 

and the rectangular fountain in the anterior space, all these elements gave the 

castle a scenic look. Most of the rooms had internal communication and were 

built one inside the other.

Today the castle has twenty large rooms, five small, four iwan and two small 
terraces on the south side. The east and west sides are completely identical 
to each other, compared to the courtyard floor they have a height difference 
of about 80 centimeters and with four stone steps connect with the floor of 
the rooms and the iwan.

The castle with three staircases with a rotation of ninety degrees connects to 
the roof and has two semicircle watchtowers in the summit of the north-east 
and north-west side and around them there are pinnacles where the 
guardians stationed for the sighting. Inside the corridors were built areas like 
arches in the wall that were the place of placement of the guardians. In the 
entrance hallway on the east side, as well as inside the main room 
and in the surveillance entrance part, the ceilings were adorned with 
colored, patterned tiles and beautiful stucco decorations.

The 50% of this castle was destroyed during the Iran-Iraq war and was rebuilt.

Source: Iran Cultura