Iran · 5th century
Falak ol-Aflak (Persian: فلک الافلاک, lit. 'The Sky of the Skies') or Shapur Khast Castle (Persian: دژ شاپورخواست) is a castle situated on the top of a large hill with the same name within the city of Khorramabad, the regional capital of Lorestan province, Iran. This gigantic structure was built during the Sasanian era (224–651).
The Khorramabad River runs past the eastern and south-western side of the Falak-ol-Aflak hill providing the fortress some natural protection on those sides. Today, the western and northern sides of the hill are bordered by the residential districts of Khorramabad.
Text adapted from “Falak-ol-Aflak” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Falak-ol-Aflak ranks #1,030 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #14 of the 173 mapped in Iran. Founded c. 438, it is older than 97% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 37 atlas entries founded in the 5th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 6,722 times in the last 60 days, more than 90% of the atlas. See how Iran compares in the castle statistics.
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