“Ardalan Castle” in the maze of uncertainty

About its background that you are looking for, it says “it is related to the Qajar era and was built by Haj Muradkhan Ardalan, the great ancestor of the Ardalan family”, but Amir Ardalan, one of the heirs of this historical building, says “we have documents that show that the building is 400 years old and belongs to It belongs to the Safavid period.

What is certain is that the existence of the castle on the royal road shows the importance of the road and the castle. On the old Hamedan-Toisarkan road from the Ganjnameh road, where you go, one of the rare buildings of the province, although bent and with many wounds, still stands out majestically and firmly.

“Ardalan Castle” or “Ashtran Castle” is the same magnificent building that when you look at it, you unconsciously remember the people who spent their time there, their background and life story, their sorrows and joys, their culture and customs as well. It is interesting that the architecture of the building and its story.

These detailed discussions require another space, and here we should talk about “Ardalan Castle” half-heartedly. The same building that we hear from time to time that it is not doing well and needs to be revived. The same building whose body is getting more and more wounded year by year and it is more difficult to face it. The same building which, due to its geographical location and size, can become one of the biggest tourism projects in the province, but it is still weak in credibility and involved in administrative tussles.

It was in December 2018 that Ishaq Turkashund, the director of the Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Department of Toisarkan city, in an interview with Isna, talked about the existence of investment to turn Ashtran Castle into a hotel with the aim of preserving the building, maintaining it and solving the problems and obstacles facing the private investor in its restoration. informed.

He added: Although the restoration of this castle requires 20 billion tomans of credit, there is no doubt that the problems facing the investor in the reconstruction of Ashtran Castle can be solved, and we will do our best to remove the existing obstacles so that this building can be restored and restored and put into operation as soon as possible. reach

Turkashund told Isna reporter in March 1400: “Ardalan Castle has been continuously destroyed over the years and cultural heritage funds are limited and so far we have not been able to restore the building.”

He continued: The restoration of the buildings owned by the owners must be with their participation, but the owner of this building has not yet cooperated with us. Because the area of ​​the castle is high, the said cost was only to the extent of restoring one tenth of the building.

The importance of Ashtran Castle and its condition drew the Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Seyed Ezzatullah Zarghami to this castle during his trip to Hamedan province in August of this year, and the famous building of the Ardalan family was visited by the minister.

Emphasizing that measures should be taken to allow the public to visit this historical building, he said: Considering that Ardalan Castle has a private owner, we are fully prepared to help in the field of restoration and providing facilities to define a suitable use for the building.

However, the case did not end here and the uniqueness of Ardalan Castle and its conditions made Isna’s reporter follow up on more recent news about this historical building and this time he listened to the words of Amir Ardalan, the representative of the heirs of the building.

Although the conversation with him started around the condition of the building and the intention of the owners to change its use, Ardalan at the very beginning spoke enthusiastically about the history and background of his famous family and said: This castle is the legacy of our ancestors, in the past, the western region of the country was called Ardalanat. Ardalan has been the name of this region for a long time and has a history of 5000 years.

Stating that the Ardalan castle is the last building of this dynasty, he added: Another castle of this people is above Uramanat and another one is in Sulaymaniyah. It reaches Turkey, which was the land of the Aryans.

Ardalan added: In other words, the Ardalans include the united tribes of Medes and Persians, which have seen many ups and downs throughout history, and if there is an opportunity, I will recount their fascinating history based on reliable documents and sources.

Referring to the fact that Ardalan Castle was registered as a national monument in 2003, he stated: Because this property is one of the lasting national monuments, its heirs gifted it to the country’s cultural heritage organization and its documents are also available, and we have no objection to its restoration. We don’t have it.

Ardalan continued: After the only remaining tower of the building was set on fire, we revived it. When it was registered as a national monument, its two floors included the Shahneshin or Andorni Salem, and they did not take care of it so much that it turned into a pile of dirt. .

The owner of Ardalan Castle said that the building currently has 11 heirs and I have full power of attorney from them, and added: All these 11 people are willing to cooperate with the cultural heritage so that the building is restored and not damaged further.

Ardalan pointed out that the cultural heritage of Hamedan province and Tuysarkan city have put a lot of effort into this project, and said: Cultural heritage in the previous government restored the building with the amount of 500 million tomans, at that time the building was restored with two billion tomans, which they proposed. Put a tourism plan on it and we agreed and said that we have the potential and capital to turn the building into a castle hotel.

He stated that if the project was successful, it would be introduced as a tourist gem of Hamadan province, and he said: The project of the Qala hotel was prepared and approved in 2016, and the estimate for the conversion of the building into the Qala hotel was seven billion tomans that year, and at that time we had about three We had billions of capital.

Ardalan continued: They told us that you can use the facility, but you must have the same amount of documents, and at that time we were not able to prepare documents with this amount, and after some time, sanctions came and the project remained undecided. The map was prepared at a personal cost of 19 million Tomans by a cultural heritage consultant engineer, and we will not hesitate to provide any help for the restoration of the castle.

Referring to the fact that I have written to Mr. Zarghami three times so far, he said: If the cultural heritage wants to restore the building, we have no problem and we will not have any resistance as the owner, we just don’t have the capital to completely restore it and change its use, otherwise we will not demand it. He is the heir to the establishment of the castle.

The owner of Ardalan Castle stated that this building does not belong to the Qajar period and is 400 years old, and we have documents that prove this, and stated: The castle can be restored with one or two billion tomans, but the cost of changing its use and turning it into a hotel The castle is estimated at around 30 billion tomans.

He added: If the investment is made and the building is changed, it will have the capacity to hold seven and 10-day foreign tours for the tourism axis of the western part of the country. In addition, it has been seen in the design of spaces such as swimming pools, medical and therapeutic tourism infrastructures, and similar things. Once launched, ROI is guaranteed.

Ardalan stated that the same amount of documents are needed to provide a loan of 30 billion, and the heirs cannot do this for some reason. flowed

Pointing out that this Ardalan castle is the identity, history and heritage of the country and it should be preserved, he said: if the building is revived, it can create good employment in the region, in addition to this, it has the ability to promote agricultural, religious and cultural tourism.

Ardalan added: Ardalani funeral ceremony is one of the famous ceremonies of this Shia family, which was held every year from the beginning of Muharram to the third day of Imam Hussain (AS) and from Arbaeen to 28 Safar, but unfortunately, all its documents, poems and equipment have been lost in recent years. Is.

He stated that Ardalan Castle has an area of ​​8000 meters and said: This project is the largest project on the ground in Hamedan province in the field of cultural heritage and tourism because it has great potential, it is located in the most important recreational route of Hamedan and you can earn great income from it. .

Ardalan pointed out that two dongs of the property belong to me and I have the largest share of the ownership of the castle, and said: The Ardalan family of Khormarodi, who are our ancestors, were governors and local rulers and city-dwellers, and they built castles, canals and various architectural structures in the villages. And Ardalan Castle is also one of these buildings.

According to ISNA, “Ardalan Castle” as one of the most important historical buildings of Hamedan province is not doing well. On the one hand, the cultural heritage budget is not enough to erect the building, on the other hand, the owners do not have the money to restore it. What is clear is that Ardalan Castle, which according to a story belongs to the Qajar era and according to another story to the works of the Safavid period, suffers from lack of care, uncertainty and destruction and is a victim of lack of credit, budget and capital.