Bābak Fort or Babak Castle , also known as the Immortal Castle or Republic Castle, is a large citadel and National Symbol of Iranians on the top of a mountain in the Arasbaran forests

Arasbaran

Arasbārān or Qaradağ , is a UNESCO registered biosphere in East Azarbaijan Province, Iran, with a varying altitude from 256m in the vicinity of Aras River to 2896m and covers an area of 78560 hectares. It include some historical places like Babak Khorramdin's Castle...

, which is located 6 km southwest of Kalibar City

Kaleybar

Kaleybar is a city in and the capital of Kaleybar County, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 9,030, in 2,397 families.-External links:* Falling Rain Genomics, Inc....

 in northwestern Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

. It has been identified as the stronghold of Bābak Khorramdin

Babak Khorramdin

Bābak Khorram-Din was one of the main Persian revolutionary leaders of the Iranian Khorram-Dinān , which was a local freedom movement fighting the Abbasid Caliphate. Khorramdin appears to be a compound analogous to dorustdin and Behdin "Good Religion" , and are considered an offshoot of...

, the leader of the Khurramites

Khurramites

The Khurramites were an Iranian religious and political movement with its roots in the movement founded by Mazdak. An alternative name for the movement is the Muḥammira "Red-Wearing Ones" , a reference to their symbolic red dress.-Origins and History:The sect was founded by the Persian cleric...

 in Azerbaijan who fought the Islamic caliphate of Abbassids. Iranian Azerbaijanis

Iranian Azerbaijanis

Iranian Azerbaijanis also known as Iranian Azeris, Iranian Turks, Azeri Turks or Persian Azerbaijanis, are Iranians of Azerbaijani ethnicity. Iranian Azeris are mainly found in the northwest provinces of East Azerbaijan, Ardabil, Zanjan, parts of West Azerbaijan, and in smaller numbers, in other...

 gather at Babak Castle during the first weekend in July for the annual commemoration of Babak Khorramdin

Babak Khorramdin

Bābak Khorram-Din was one of the main Persian revolutionary leaders of the Iranian Khorram-Dinān , which was a local freedom movement fighting the Abbasid Caliphate. Khorramdin appears to be a compound analogous to dorustdin and Behdin "Good Religion" , and are considered an offshoot of...

.

See also

• List of Iranian castles
• Iranian architecture
  Iranian architecture
  Iranian architecture or Persian architecture is the architecture of Iran . It has a continuous history from at least 5000 BCE to the present, with characteristic examples distributed over a vast area from Turkey to North India and the borders of China and from the Caucasus to Zanzibar...
  
  
• Arasbaran
  Arasbaran
  Arasbārān or Qaradağ , is a UNESCO registered biosphere in East Azarbaijan Province, Iran, with a varying altitude from 256m in the vicinity of Aras River to 2896m and covers an area of 78560 hectares. It include some historical places like Babak Khorramdin's Castle...
  
  forests

The castle, built on 2300-2600 meter heights, surrounded by gorges as deep as 400 to 600 meters, is believed to belong to the Parthian dynasty and modified under the Sasanid dynasty. To reach the castle, one has to trek a tortuous and narrow passageway and then cross a corridor-shaped temple, 200 meters in lengths.