Samen Underground City

Also known as: The underground city of Samen, Samen Hidden City, Malayer Underground City

The underground relics of Samen were discovered accidentally during a construction project in 2005. This Complex has been founded on a granite bed by hand and is completely under the streets, houses, and official buildings.

Samen underground city (located 400 km west of Tehran) lies in southwestern Malayer is believed to be built sometime between the fall of the Achaemenid Empire (550-330 BC) and the early Parthian era (247 BC-224 CE). It  is one of the most ancient cities of Hamedan. Samen subterranean settlement has 25 rock-carved rooms, interlinked tunnels, and corridors. These rooms have been built at a depth ranging between 3 to 6 meters. The rooms and spaces of all workshops are linked together and lead to the surface through carved stairways.

One of the features of this Complex is the existence of more than 60 human skeletons buried in the floor. This shows that the complex has been used for a long period of time as a special place for burials.

Archeological investigations show 3 phases of settlement and use of this complex:

The first phase, referring to the philosophy of the foundation of the complex, indicates some kind of religious use the complex.

The second phases, which is related to Ashkani Period, shows that the complex has been used as a cemetery. In later phases, the complex has been used as a shelter during emergencies.

The alternative use of the complex for various functions has been documented from early Islamic period up to Ghajar period.

The present location of the city indicates that it might be the ruins of a city which has been mentioned as “Ramen” in Almasalek and Al-mamalek books.