TEHRAN – An urgent restoration project will soon be commenced on the muddy ramparts of Damghan that for centuries helped protect the north-central Iranian town against enemy attacks.

“An urgent restoration work will soon begin on ramparts of Damghan, which date back to pre-Islamic eras,” Semnan province’s tourism chief Hamidreza Doostmohammadi said on Tuesday.

Damghan fortress is one of the largest mudbrick architectures in Iran, which was built in the early Islamic era.

The barrier was once 16 kilometers in length and it embraced 106 towers and four gates in its heyday, of which only eight kilometers have remained, Doostmohammadi explained.

Last year, local vandals severely damaged parts of the ramparts and their fortifications. The invaders completely destroyed two old towers and a small part of the fortification, according to Mehdi Qasemi, the tourism chief of the oasis town.

“Following the citizens’ call about the demolition of a part of the fortification wall that is located in the northeast of Damghan, police forces in charge of protecting cultural heritage presented at the [crime] scene and after confirming the demolition, a decree to stop the act was issued in coordinating with the deputy prosecutor,” Qasemi explained.

They aimed at creating a bigger passageway towards a street leading to their private houses and their actions will undoubtedly be put on trial, he noted.

Damghan lies at an elevation of 1,200 meters just southeast of the Alburz Mountains on a large, barren gravel plain. It is on the road and railway between Tehran and Mashhad.

Archaeological excavations at nearby Tepe Hissar reveal occupation from prehistoric times through the Sasanian period (224-651 CE). Damghan was an important town and capital of the medieval province of Qumis but was destroyed by Afghans in 1723. The town trades in pistachios and almonds.

AFM