Falak-ol-Aflak Castle: A Fortress That Became a Prison, A Prisoner That Is Being Freed

Officials of Lorestan’s Cultural Heritage Organization say that by paying 15 billion tomans, the Revolutionary Guard’s debt to the cultural heritage organization will be cleared, and the Guard must vacate Falak-ol-Aflak Castle. This news and the story of the castle and its prisoners have resonated on social media networks.

In recent hours, news was published in Iranian domestic news agencies that was particularly welcome news for supporters of Iran’s ancient and historical monuments and the preservation of these works. IRNA reported that according to officials of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, all installments of the 69 billion toman debt for the liberation of Falak-ol-Aflak Castle have been paid; welcome news that immediately raises the question in the reader’s mind of what this debt was for?

Falak-ol-Aflak Castle or “Dezh Shapoor” is one of the historical sites of Khorramabad (Lorestan Province). It is said that the Sasanians built a city named Shapourkhast in the area of present-day Khorramabad, a city that was later destroyed and the present-day Khorramabad was built on its ruins. It is believed that Falak-ol-Aflak Castle is the same Dezh Shapourkhast that had governmental and military functions during the Sasanian period.

69 Billion Toman Debt to the Guard, An Obstacle to World Registration of the Monument

This massive brick structure, which is believed to have been renamed Falak-ol-Aflak during the Qajar period and is also known as the “Twelve-Tower Castle,” has been nationally registered but not internationally registered.

The prerequisite for the international registration of this monument and the submission of its file to UNESCO was to establish a perimeter around the castle. It was precisely at this point that the problem arose; according to domestic websites, around Falak-ol-Aflak Castle, in the area that constitutes the castle’s perimeter, two military barracks belonging to the Army and the Revolutionary Guard Corps were established.

While the Army, after the decision of the Cultural Heritage Organization for the international registration of the monument, abandoned the castle’s perimeter, the Guard resisted until the last moment. The Guard’s condition for vacating the castle, or more accurately, clearing the castle’s perimeter, was 68 billion tomans for the construction of a new barracks.

If the Guard’s Debt to the Cultural Heritage Organization Is Cleared

In an agreement reached in 1398 between the governor of Lorestan, the Guard, and the Ministry of Defense, it was stipulated that, according to the Defense Minister, the Guard would also vacate the castle’s perimeter by Esfand 1398, but according to the governor of Lorestan, the Guard delayed the evacuation process due to delays in payments.

The governor of Lorestan announced in Shahrivar 1398 the payment of 28 billion tomans in cash to the Guard for vacating the area. The governor also spoke of converting appropriations into two-year bonds due to financial difficulties that arose. This official also stated that the Guard had initially “rejected the bonds and then was convinced” to accept the bonds “with interest.”

Now officials of the Cultural Heritage Organization say that 48 billion tomans of this “debt” have been paid, and the final installment has come in the form of securities that will be paid to the Guard if the castle’s perimeter is vacated. Zahra Baharund, deputy director of Cultural Heritage in Lorestan, announcing this news, says that the final 15 billion in the form of treasury bonds has been secured, and if the Guard evacuates the area according to the memorandum of understanding, this 15 billion will be received from the cultural heritage organization, and the Guard’s debt to the cultural heritage organization will be cleared.

Reactions to the News and Different Uses of Falak-ol-Aflak Castle

The publication of news about payments to the Guard for vacating the castle’s area had significant resonance on social media networks. From reactions from users who asked why the Cultural Heritage Organization should pay this amount to the Guard to the joy of culture enthusiasts at taking a step toward the international registration of this monument, to reactions to reports that were published about Falak-ol-Aflak Castle and its famous prisoners.

In some of the published reports, names such as Mossadegh and Shamloo are mentioned as prisoners of Falak-ol-Aflak Castle, which has sparked discussions in cyberspace; from journalists who consider the published names to be incorrect to those who point to the continued use of the fortress as a prison in the years after the revolution.

The historical Sasanian fortress has had different functions over the centuries; from a fortress with a strategic position in the fourth century and a government seat during the Buyid dynasty to the seat of the Little Lur Atabegs government and the governors of Lorestan in the Safavid and Qajar periods, to finally a military barracks and prison use during the first and second Pahlavi eras. In a report published by Amnesty International in 2018 about the 1988 massacre, one of the survivors of the prison killings between Mordad and Shahrivar 1367 speaks of captivity in a detention center beneath Falak-ol-Aflak Castle in Khorramabad. (You can see this report in the link below)

A Fortress That Became a Prison, A Prison That Became a Museum

But 1349 was a fateful year for the fortress; on November 18 of that year, it was decided that Falak-ol-Aflak, the Sasanian castle that was in fact not a prison but one of Iran’s most important military fortresses, would become a museum. In 1354, this fortress was converted into a museum with the launch of an ethnological museum and Lorestan bronze works.

Now lovers of culture and the preservation and maintenance of Lorestan’s and Iran’s historical and ancient monuments hope that with the vacation of the Falak-ol-Aflak fortress perimeter by the Revolutionary Guard Corps, the file of this remarkable monument will be activated for submission to UNESCO, and this tourist attraction will be able to attract more tourists to Iran.

Source: DW