TEHRAN – The historical castle of Alamout in Qazvin province opened its doors to the sightseers on Tuesday, after over two months of closure due to the coronavirus outbreak, IRNA reported. 

Inscribed on the national heritage list in 2002, Alamout Castle nests on top of a hill in a relatively remote village amidst the northern Iran’s Alborz Mountains. The castle was once a shelter for the followers of Hasan-e Sabbah (1070–1124), spiritual leader of Islam’s heretical Ismaili sect, known as ‘Assassins’.

In popular myth, Sabbah led a bizarre, much-feared mercenary organization whose members were dispatched to murder or kidnap leading political and religious figures of the day.

In early 1930s, British-Italian explorer and travel writer Freya Stark described her exploration of the place in her book “The Valleys of the Assassins”.

Nowadays, the ruined castle is a top travel destination in northeastern side of Gazor Khan Village in the environs of Mo’alem Kalayeh, from the environs of Roudbar of Alamout.

The relics of the castle stand on the cliff of Kanglou-Marazi along with valleys and horrible precipices.

According to the tentative list of UNESCO, the relics of walls, towers and lookout posts of the Alamout Castle have been made of stones with gypsum as binding material. The castle is ten thousand square meters in area. The requisite buildings have been constructed on different levels of the steep cliff. All levels and steep places have been optimally utilized.

ABU/MG