Arg-e Bam (ارگ بم), Bam, Kerman province, southeastern Iran.
Bam Citadel was most likely the largest adobe structure in the world, made from non-baked mud brick. The area of the citadel is approximately 180,000 m², and is bounded by walls 6-7 meters high and 1815 meters long.
The whole complex can be traced back to at least the Achaemenid Empire (6th-4th centuries BC). The citadel rose to importance from the 7th-11th centuries AD, as a crossroads along the Silk Road and other important trade routes, and as a producer of silk and cotton garments.
On December 26th, 2003, the Citadel was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake, along with much of the rest of Bam. A few days after the earthquake, the President of Iran, Mohammad Khatami, announced that the citadel would be rebuilt.
