The Citadel of Herat — Qala Iktyaruddin, sometimes called the Citadel of Alexander — is a massive fortification on a low hill in the northwest of the old city. The structure visible today dates primarily from Timurid rebuilding in the 15th century and later Safavid modifications, though a fortification on this site has existed since at least the 4th century BC.
Restoration work funded by ISAF and various international agencies in the early 2000s made parts of the citadel accessible to visitors, including the interior rooms and the surrounding walls. The view from the battlements over the old city and the surrounding plain is the best in Herat. The citadel houses a small museum with artefacts from the city's long history — coins, ceramics, fragments of tilework.