The vast castle, surrounded by a three-kilometer (two-mile) crenellated wall, loomed over a city entirely built of mud bricks, clay, straw and the trunks of palm trees, and sealed off by a defensive perimeter with a single gate.

Not only was the city on the list of World Heritage Sites of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), but it used to be a favored place for movie-makers seeking an exotic setting.

It provided the backdrop for Valerio Zurlini's 1976 epic "The Desert of the Tartars", which in turn was inspired by a painting of the citadel by Giorgio de Chirico called "The Red Tower".

The movie touched off a minor tourism boom to Bam, although this trade has suffered in recent years because of the kidnapping of several tourists by the drug-traffickers plaguing Iran's eastern borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan, who have turned the country into a major transit point for opium and cannabis destined for Europe and the Gulf.

The 1959 movie based on Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians" also was partly shot in Bam.

However, the 1979 Iranian revolution put an end to such frivolity, and Bam slumbered far from the beaten track.

But for those who ventured to the town across the burning plain of dark baked earth between the jagged Barez and Kabudi mountains, Bam provided many charms.

An oasis in the arid Dasht-e Kavir region known as the Emerald of the Desert, Bam has extensive underground water reserves, which have allowed the planting of rich palm groves and citrus gardens. Visitors remembered the roads lined with small streams, with the fragrance of oranges, tangerines and sweet lemons lingering in the air.

Bam declined in importance following an Afghan invasion 1722. The city was used as a barracks for the army until 1932 and then completely abandoned.

Intensive restoration work began in 1953 and continued with the repopulation that gradually brought Bam back to life.

At the peak of the town's economic power, from the 16th to the 18th century, more than 10,000 people lived within the walls. Its houses and public buildings, including a 1,100-year-old mosque and a Zoroastrian temple, survived virtually unchanged through the centuries until that fatal moment on Friday.

TERRA.WIRE