Rāyen

Rayen stands at the foot of Mount Hazar in the highlands south of Kerman. Its great mudbrick citadel enclosed a small fortified settlement, with dwellings, a bazaar, storehouses and places of worship behind its walls. Towers and a guarded entrance protected the inhabitants, while the higher inner stronghold served the ruler. Like the better-known citadel of Bam, it formed part of the defensive landscape of routes through southeastern Iran.

The fortified complex acquired its present form through successive periods of use and rebuilding. From the Sasanian age to the Qajar era, strongholds at Rayen and Bam helped protect communities and communications linking Kerman with Sistan, Khorasan and central Iran. Within Rayen's walls, spaces for trade, storage and domestic life made the citadel more than a solitary military post: it was a settlement built to shelter its inhabitants in an uncertain country.