Ordubad (Azerbaijani Ordubad) is a city in Azerbaijan, the administrative center of the Ordubad region and the second largest city of the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic. Located in the foothills of the Zangezur Range on the Ordubadchay River, 4 km from the Ordubad railway station.
Ordubad is one of the few cities in Azerbaijan that have well preserved their ancient monuments, old layout and a significant part of the old buildings. Since 2001, the historical building area of ​​the city has been a candidate for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Geography
Ordubad is located at the foot of the Zangezur mountain range at an altitude of 850 m above sea level, 64 km southeast of Nakhichevan, 1.5 km north of the left bank of the Araks River, along which the border with Iran passes. The border with Armenia runs 11 km east of the city. The city is divided into two parts by the Ordubadchay River.

History
Medieval
In ancient times, the territory of Ordubad was part of the Goghtn region of Armenia. The emergence of a settlement in Ordubad probably dates back to the 5th-6th centuries. n. e, when the city was part of the Armenian marzpanism.
The most ancient monument of Ordubad, about which there is information, is a Kufic inscription in Persian on one of the plates of an ancient cemetery in the city, dating back to 824. This inscription was discovered by M. Khanykov, who wrote that in 1851 M. Arkhangelsky made an engraving for him from this inscription. However, this plate has not been preserved. Already in 1927, V. M. Sysoev did not find a single Kufic inscription at the Ordubad cemetery. The ancient monuments of Ordubad also include the ruins of an ancient caravanserai that survived until the end of the 19th century. It was located next to the Aras-Maidan Square, the underground passage from which led to the old church, built, according to folk legend, at the beginning of the spread of Christianity, at the beginning of the 5th century. One of the oldest monuments of Ordubad, which has survived to this day, is a tombstone dated 1357 in the cemetery of Ordubad with an Arabic-Persian inscription of religious content. This grave, found in the same cemetery as the slab of 824, belonged to Sheikh Abu Said from Ordubad, who was a contemporary of Ibn Sina.
Historian Khumar Vaidova notes that the first mention of Ordubad dates back to the 7th century. During this period, the whole of Transcaucasia, including including the Ordubad province, fell under the authority of the Arab Caliphate and was united as part of a single Armenian emirate. The province was ruled by emirs appointed by the caliphs.
In the IX-X centuries. The Ordubad province alternately fell under the rule of the feudal states of the Iranian dynasties Sajids, Salarids (who ruled in northwestern Persia, in the province of Azerbaijan, which had a Persian population until the 11th century), from 885 to 1047, Ordubad was part of the Armenian Ani kingdom.
In 1047, the Ordubad province, like the entire territory of Armenia, was conquered by the Seljuks, who came here from Central Asia. Ordubad gained great fame in the 12th century, at the very time when Nakhichevan was for some time the capital of the Ildegizids State.
In 1196-1261, Ordubad was part of the Armenian kingdom of the Zakaryans.
In the first half of the 13th century, Ordubad was captured by the Mongol conquerors. It is believed that the Turkic-Persian name “Ordubad”, meaning “city of the army”, may imply its foundation precisely during the period of the Mongol invasion or during the period of the reign of the Ilkhanids that followed it, which is much more likely, since the Ilkhanids turned Azerbaijan (northwestern Persia) to the center of his power. Ordubad was one of the important trading cities through which caravans from China, Europe and India passed. Fruit, agricultural products and silk were exported from the city. Hamdallah Qazvini in the middle of the XIV century described Ordubad as a provincial town, which was one of the five cities that were part of the Nakhichevan fog, immersed in gardens, and producing fine grapes, cereals and cotton. В сочинении «Нузхат ал-кулуб» Хамдаллаха Казвини (XIV век) Ордубад, равно как и Нахичевань, указываются в регионе Азербайджаn.
At the end of the 14th century, the city was attacked by Timur’s troops. In 1387, after the conquest of Khorasan, Timur with his army moved to Tabriz, and then to the Syunik region. Путь его проходил через Ордубад и его окрестности, понесшими вследствие этого большой уроn. The battles that took place near Ordubad during the long siege of the Alinjakala fortress were very devastating for the population of the city. In the XV-XVI centuries. Ordubad was part of the feudal states of the newcomer Turkic associations Kara-Koyunlu and Ak-Koyunlu.
In the 15th century, on the left bank of the Ordubadchay River on a hill Ambaras was founded a feudal fortress, which was the center of the city, which began to develop rapidly through trade.

New Time
Until the 16th century, Ordubad was one of the centers of handicraft production and trade. In the 17th century, new trade centers were formed on the left bank of the Ordubadchay. Given that the development of the city took place on the right side, the fortress lost its significance. In 1604, Ordubad (during the reign of Shah Abbas) received some privileges that freed him from paying taxes to the treasury, as evidenced by the text of the Shah’s firman carved over the portal of the Juma mosque. So, Hatembek Ordubady, who bore the title of “Etimad-ad-douleh”, being the chief vizier of Abbas I, procured from him in 1607/08 tax immunity – “muafi” to the city of Ordubad, as evidenced by the Shah’s decree carved over the Juma portal- mosques. End of the 16th – first half of the 17th century. turned out to be a difficult period for Ordubad. Подвергаясь набегам то турецких, то иранских завоевателей, а зачастую являясь ареной ожесточённых и кровопролитных сражений, Ордубад не раз был разграблен и разорёn. Так, в 1635 году во время ирано-турецкой войны Ордубад был варварски разрушеn. In the second half of the 17th century, external political stabilization objectively contributed to the revival of urban life, the restoration of crafts and trade. The construction of the madrasah dates back to this period. In the XVII-XVIII centuries in Ordubad, on the right bank of the river, new centers of trade began to be founded.
At the end of the 1720s. was taken by the leader of the Armenian rebels in Zangezur Mkhitar Sparapet.
In the XVIII – early XIX centuries. the city was part of the Nakhichevan Khanate (in the southeastern mahal Aza-Jeyran), but after the Russian-Persian war of 1827 and the Turkmanchay Treaty of 1828, these territories were ceded to tsarist Russia.
For a relatively long period of time, estimated at two centuries (XVII-XIX centuries), due to internal and external circumstances, the socio-economic base of Ordubad did not receive any significant development, and in some periods even regressed. The main occupations of the population of the city were gardening, handicraft production and trade.
As part of the Russian Empire, Ordubad (or Ordubat) was a countyless (not constituting an administrative center for any specific territory) the city of the Nakhichevan district of the Erivan province and was located on the border of Russia and Persia. In 1834 the population of the city and its 52 villages was 11,341. The population, consisting mainly of Azerbaijanis, was engaged in horticulture and sericulture. There was a wonderful huge plane tree (Platanus orientalis) in the city. In the city then there was a one-class city school.
From 1850 to 1868 Ordubat was a county town of the Erivan province.

Recent history
In 1977, by a decree of the government of the Azerbaijan SSR, the historical building area of ​​the city of Ordubad, which is distinguished by its unique architectural structure and architectural monuments, was declared a historical and architectural reserve.
In 2001, the city was declared a candidate for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Sights
State Historical and Architectural Reserve (includes the area of ​​historical buildings of the city).
Armenian monastery of the 13th century
House-Museum of M. S. Ordubadi.
Juma Mosque (rebuilt in the 17th century),
Dilber Mosque (XVIII century).
Two-storey madrasah (beginning of the 18th century)
Residential buildings with a vestibule of the 18th-19th centuries, forming a peculiar group in the people’s dwelling of Azerbaijan.