ʿABBĀSĀBĀD, fortress built in 1810 by ʿAbbās Mīrzā on the
northern bank of the Araxes river. Erected at a place formerly
called Yazdābād about six miles to the southwest of Naḵjavān
city, the fortress commanded the passage of the Araxes and was
of special strategic importance for the defense of the Naḵjavān
khanate. It was initially constructed on a European model, from
plans furnished by Captain Lamie, a French engineer attached to
the mission of General Gardane, and was later improved by
Captain William Monteith of the Madras Engineers (Porter, II, p.
616; Public Records Office, Kew, U.K., F. O. 60/14, Plan of the
fortress of Abbasabad by W. Monteith). A visitor in 1814,
however, remarked that the heaviest stones were placed at the
top so that every year portions of the wall collapsed; and an
Armenian church in the center of the complex had been converted
into a gunpowder magazine (Morier, Second Journey, p. 311).
Structures were added to the outer reaches of the fortress,
compromising its defenses, and ear