Built in 1571 by Ibrahim Khan, the Shah of Persia, this mountain fortress guarded the northern approach to the city of Baku for almost two hundred and fifty years until it was sacked by the armies of Catherine the Great during the second Russo-Iranian War. Intermittently occupied by bandits for the next 80 years, the ruins of Nadar were also used a base of operations for Azeri rebels during their fight for independence after the collapse of Czarist Russia in 1918. Latest intelligence reports that since 1995 Nadar has been in the hands of Samed Vezirzade who has partially restored it and is using it as the headquarters of his operation in Azerbaijan.