Kāshāneh Tower of Bastām

The Kāshāneh tower of Bastām is located in the homonymous city in the province of Shāhrud (Semnān region) next to the Jām'eh mosque whose construction date, based on the entry portal inscription, corresponds to the 700 year of the lunar Hegira.

The multilateral exterior-looking tower is almost 20 meters high. Above it there are two edges made of large bricks with some inscriptions above. On the south-west side, the writing is written on a brick Bismillah al rahman al rahim (In the name of God, merciful and merciful) with calligraphy soils very beautiful.

The entrance door of the tower is located inside the Jām'eh mosque and next to the mihrab of it. Before the entrance there is a small corridor which, on three sides, is decorated with stucco and around it and the verse of the throne jumps to the eye and on the other two sides a sentence in the Arabic language.

At the center of this tower is a very deep well. To get to the top of it you have to go through very small spiral steps and a dark corridor. The interior light of the tower is procured by some cracks in the parapets of its central body.

According to the inhabitants of Bastām it was a Zoroastrian temple from the pre-Islamic era. Some orientalists believe that this building is one of the monuments attributed to Ghāzān Khān Mongol and that its main name was Ghāzāneh which changed over time into Kāshāneh.

In post-Islamic periods the building was used as a watchtower in Bastām. Considering the style of construction and other factors it seems that it looks a lot like an astronomical observatory.