Bajul Castle

Bajul Castle, also known as Nakam Castle, stands in the village of Ab Barik-e Olya, about 35 kilometres from Aligudarz in the east of Lorestan Province. This historic building is one of the region's valuable monuments, and its construction is attributed to the Zand period and the early Qajar period. In the past, Bajul Castle served as a landlord's residence and was home to one of the region's notables. In 1389 (Solar Hijri) it was inscribed on Iran's National Heritage List under registration number 4353, and it is regarded as one of the important historic buildings of Aligudarz County. Set among the plains and highlands around Ab Barik-e Olya, and with its remarkable history and architecture, the castle has become one of the notable historical attractions of eastern Lorestan.

Bajul Castle has a rectangular plan organised around a central courtyard. In the past there were two watchtowers around it, one of which has since been lost. The northern side held the khan's quarters and the landlord's living area, while the western side has the main entrance reserved for the khan and his guests, along with the kitchen and the fodder store. According to local accounts, the entrances on the southern and eastern sides were used by servants and for animals. The central courtyard has a rectangular stone pool, and its floor is paved with cube-shaped bricks. Fired cube-shaped bricks measuring 15 by 15 centimetres, together with wooden beams and timber planks, are the main building materials. The castle's iwan has two cylindrical stone columns, 40 centimetres in diameter and 180 centimetres high, and the underside and the front of the iwan are decorated with relief carvings of flowers, plants and hunting scenes. The round brick tower and the motifs of hunting, flowers and vases, and a scene of a dragon attacking a lion, are among the castle's most distinctive decorative features. In recent years the building has undergone several seasons of restoration, but parts of it still need protection and care.

To visit Bajul Castle, you need to head for the village of Ab Barik-e Olya in Aligudarz County. Given the building's rural location, a private car is the more suitable way to get there. The area around the castle consists of the region's plains and highlands, and besides visiting the historic building you can stroll around the village and the surrounding countryside. Spring and early autumn, thanks to the milder weather in the mountainous areas of Aligudarz, are the best times to visit. Because parts of the building are fragile and its decorations have historical value, visitors should avoid entering unstable sections, damaging the walls and decorations, littering, or interfering with the site in any way, and should help preserve this historic monument and its surroundings.