Herat Citadel

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The Citadel of Herat, also known as the Citadel of Alexander, and locally known as Qala Iktyaruddin, is located in the center of Herat in Afghanistan. It dates back to 330 BC, when Alexander the Great and his army arrived to what is now Afghanistan after the Battle of Gaugamela. Many empires have used it as a headquarters in the last 2,000 years, and was destroyed and rebuilt many times over the centuries. This historic citadel was saved from demolition in the 1950s, and was excavated and restored by UNESCO between 1976 and 1979.
From decades of wars and neglect, the citadel began to crumble but in recent years several international organizations decided to completely rebuild it. The National Museum of Herat is also housed inside the citadel, while the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture is the caretaker of the whole premises. Herat, in the fertile valley of Hari River (Hari Rud), was settled as early as the sixth century BC. A mound located to the north of the Old City, known as Kuhandazh may have been the site of the fort that Alexander the Great built in 330 BC following his conquest of the Achaemenid city known as Artacoana or Aria. After the depart of Alexander,
Herat was ruled by the Seleucids, Parthians, Kushans, Sasanians, Hephthalites, Umayyads, Tahirids, Saffarids, Samanids, Seljuk, Ghaznavids, and Ghurids. Located half a kilometer to the south of Kuhandaz and aligned with the cardinal axes, the walled city described by early Arab geographers had four gates leading into crossing commercial avenues and a square citadel adjoining the northern city wall. This citadel, which has been suggested as another possible site for Alexander’s fort, is known today as the famous Citadel of Herat. Herat thrived with the Silk Road trade from the Levant to India and China, and became an important city of the Ghurid dynasty in 1175.

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