Castello Vali
The Vali Castle was built in the year 1326 (lunar Hegira) on the orders of Gholāmrezā Khān Fili in an area called Hossein Ābād Fili which was known as the upper village, on the Chegā Mirak hill in the middle of a mountain in the Ilām region.
The Bi Bi source was used for water supply. According to the stone inscription Takht-e Khān, Hāj Darvish Ali Kermānshāhi was the architect of this building. It was built in a land area of 4687 / 17 square meters of which 1792 / 4 meters occupied by a green space in the south side. The castle has a height of about 4 meters with the facade facing south and almost trapezoidal in shape with the foundations equal to 1466 / 01 square meters and 1363 / 4 square meters of internal courtyard area. On the north side there is a main hall (shāhneshin) whose dimensions and internal dimensions are larger than the other rooms. At the center of the living room there is a small fountain decorated around and inside with marble that during the reconstruction was embellished with colored tiles. This fountain was built near a spring which at that time was rich in water but with the passage of time it dried up. The presence of cross-linked parapets in turquoise bricks, covered terraces on the south side, along with lattice windows with colored glass, the columns with circular section, the ones carved in the iwān, the vaulted arches, the decorations and the workings on of them with colored tiles, the tall and ancient pine trees and the rectangular fountain in the anterior space, all these elements gave the castle a scenic look. Most of the rooms had internal communication and were built one inside the other. Today the castle has twenty large rooms, five small, four iwān and two small terraces on the south side. The east and west sides are completely identical to each other, compared to the courtyard floor they have a height difference of about 80 centimeters and with four stone steps connect with the floor of the rooms and the iwān. The castle with three staircases with a rotation of ninety degrees, connects to the roof and has two semicircle watchtowers in the summit of the north-east and north-west side and around them there are pinnacles where the guardians stationed for the sighting. Inside the corridors were built areas like arches in the wall that were the place of placement of the guardians. In the entrance hallway on the east side, as well as inside the main room and in the surveillance entrance part, the ceilings were adorned with colored, patterned tiles and beautiful stucco decorations.
In this castle there are six dungeons on three sides, north, west and east; their height up to the level the ceiling is two meters and their brightness is procured by brick and colored lattice windows inside the courtyard. Vāli Castle has three entrance doors on three sides, south, east and west. The main entrance is located on the south side which is connected by eleven steps of twenty centimeters to the surveillance room and then with another eight to the courtyard surface. The entrance was built according to the Greek style. The other doors of the castle were private or were built to introduce guests and with covered corridors connected inside the courtyard. At the ends of the doors there are two vestibules whose light comes from some rooms. Inside one of these there is a small fountain. The interruption in the bricks and the creation of arches in the wall, various arches on the architrave of the thresholds and the brick decorations above, have given the vestibles a particular beauty. The remains of the ceiling mirror work in one of the rooms on the west side are still visible. The stucco ornaments on the walls and ceiling of the main hall are made up of floral and botanical motifs. The stone of the coverings on the edge of the external façade is formed of rectangular polished stones in which the relief of the various islime motifs has been used in the elevation of the wall. The 50% of this castle was destroyed during the Iran-Iraq war and was rebuilt in the 1369 (solar egira).
