ARMENIAN HERITAGE SITES IN TURKEY AND IRAN

ANI–‘THECITYOF1001CHURCHES’
AniisaruinedmedievalArmeniancitynowsituated
in Turkey's province of Kars, next to the closed
borderwithArmenia.
Between 961 and 1045, it was the capital of
theBagratidArmeniankingdomthatcoveredmuch
of present-day Armenia and eastern Turkey. Ani
stoodonvarioustraderoutesanditsmanyreligious
buildings, palaces, and fortifications were amongst
the most technically and artistically advanced
structuresintheworld. Atitsheight,Aniwasoneof
the world's largest cities,with a possible population
of100,000.
Renowned for its splendor, Ani was sacked by the
Mongols in 1236. Ani never recovered from a
devastating 1319 earthquake, and was gradually
abandoneduntilitwaslargelyforgottenbythe17 th c.
Ani is a widely recognized cultural, religious, and
national heritage symbol for Armenians.According
to Razmik Panossian, Ani is one of the most visible
and ‘tangible’ symbols of past Armenian greatness
andhenceasourceofpride.
In 1064, a large Seljuk army under Alp
ArslanattackedAni;afterasiegeof25days,they
capturedthecityandslaughtereditspopulation.
An account of the sack and massacres in Ani is
given by the Arab historian Sibt ibn al-Jawzi,
whoquotesaneyewitnesssaying:
“Putting the Persian sword to work, they spared no
one... One could see there the grief and calamity of
everyageofhumankind.Forchildrenwereravished
from the embraces of their mothers and mercilessly
hurled against rocks, while the mothers drenched
them with tears and blood... The city became filled
from one end to the other with bodies of the slain
and[thebodiesoftheslain]becamearoad.[...]The
army entered the city, massacred its inhabitants,
pillagedandburnedit,leavingitinruinsandtaking
prisoner all those who remained alive...The dead
bodies were so many that they blocked the streets;
one could not go anywhere without stepping over
them.Andthenumberofprisonerswasnotlessthan
50,000 souls. I was determined to enter city and see
the destruction with my own eyes. I tried to find a
streetinwhichIwouldnothavetowalkoverthe
corpses;butthatwasimpossible.”
In 1072, the Seljuks sold Ani to the Shaddadids, a
Muslim Kurdish dynasty. The Shaddadids generally
pursued a conciliatory policy towards the city's
overwhelmingly Armenian and Christian
populationandactuallymarriedseveralmembersof
the Bagratid nobility. Whenever the Shaddadid
governance became too intolerant, however, the
population would appeal to the Christian Kingdom
ofGeorgiaforhelp.TheGeorgianscapturedAnifive
timesbetween1124and1209.
The Mongols unsuccessfully besieged Ani in 1226,
but in 1236 they captured and sacked the city,
massacring large numbers of its population. Under
the Mongols the Zakarids continued to rule Ani, as
thevassalsoftheGeorgianmonarch.
Bythe14 th century,thecitywasruledbyasuccession
of local Turkish dynasties, including the Jalayrids
andtheKaraKoyunlu(BlackSheepclan)whomade
Ani their capital. It was ruined by an earthquake in
1319. Tamerlane captured Ani in the 1380s. On his
death the Kara Koyunlu regained control but
transferred their capital to Yerevan. In 1441 the
Armenian Catholicosate did the same. The
PersianSafavidsthenruledAniuntilitbecamepart
of the Turkish Ottoman Empire in 1579. A small
town remained within its walls at least until the
middle of the seventeenth century, but the site was
entirelyabandonedby1735whenthelastmonksleft
themonasteryintheVirgin'sFortressorKizkale.
MONUMENTSATANI
All the structures at Ani are constructed using the
localvolcanicbasalt,asortoftufastone.Itiseasily
carvedandcomesinavarietyofvibrantcolors,from
creamy yellow, to rose-red, to jet black. The most
importantsurvivingmonumentsareasfollows.
THECATHEDRAL
Also known as Surp Asdvadzadzin (the Church of
the Holy Mother of God), its construction was
startedintheyear989,underKingSmbatII,andwas
only finished in 1001. The design of the cathedral
was the work of Trdat, the most celebrated architect
of medieval Armenia. The cathedral is a domed
basilica (the dome collapsed in 1319). The interior
containsseveralprogressivefeatures(suchastheuse
of pointed arches and clustered piers) that give to it
theappearanceofGothicarchitecture(astylewhich
theAnicathedralpredatesbyseveralcenturies)
. SURPSTEPHANOSCHURCH
There is no inscription giving the date of its
construction,butanedictinGeorgianisdated1218.
The church was referred to as "Georgian". During
this period "Georgian" did not simply mean an
ethnic Georgian, it had a denominational meaning
and would have designated all those in Ani who
professed the Chalcedonian faith, mostly
Armenians. Although the Georgian Church
controlled this church, its congregation would have
mostlybeenArmenians.
THECHURCHOF
STGREGORYOFTIGRANHONENTS
This church, finished in 1215, is the best-preserved
monumentatAni.Itwasbuiltduringtheruleofthe
Zakarids and was commissioned by the wealthy
Armenian merchant Tigran Honents. Its plan is of a
typecalledadomedhall.Infrontofitsentranceare
the ruins of a narthex and a small chapel that are
from a slightly later period. The exterior of the
church is spectacularly decorated. Ornate stone
carvings of real and imaginary animals fill the
spandrelsbetweenblindarcadesthatrunsaroundall
four sides of the church. The interior contains an
important and unique series of frescoes cycles that
depict two main themes. In the eastern third of the
church is depicted the Life of Saint Gregory the
Illuminator, in the middle third of the church is
depicted the Life of Christ. Such extensive fresco
cyclesarerarefeaturesinArmenianarchitecture–it
isbelievedthattheseoneswereexecutedbyGeorgian
artists,andthecyclealsoincludesscenesfromthelife
ofSt.Nino,whoconvertedtheGeorgiansto
Christianity. In the narthex and its chapel survive
fragmentary frescoes that are more Byzantine in
style.