Ani
Encyclopedia
Ani is a ruined and uninhabited medieval Armenian city-site situated in the Turkish province of Kars
, near the border with Armenia
. It was once the capital of a medieval Armenian kingdom
that covered much of present day Armenia and eastern Turkey. The city is located on a triangular site, visually dramatic and naturally defensive, protected on its eastern side by the ravine of the Akhurian River
and on its western side by the Bostanlar or Tzaghkotzadzor valley. The Akhurian is a branch of the Araks River
and forms part of the current border between Turkey and Armenia. Called the "City of 1001 Churches", Ani stood on various trade routes and its many religious buildings
, palaces, and fortifications were amongst the most technically and artistically advanced structures in the world.
At its height, Ani had a population of 100,000–200,000 people and was the rival of Constantinople
, Baghdad
and Cairo
.
Long ago renowned for its splendor and magnificence, Ani has been abandoned and largely forgotten for centuries.
first mentioned Ani in the 5th century AD. They described it as a strong fortress built on a hilltop and a possession of the Armenian Kamsarakan
dynasty. The city took its name from the Armenian fortress-city and pagan center of Ani-Kamakh located in the region of Daranaghi in Upper Armenia
. Ani was also previously known as Khnamk (Խնամք), although historians are uncertain as to why it was called so. Johann Heinrich Hübschmann
, a German philologist and linguist who studied the Armenian language, suggested that the word may have came from the Armenian word "khnamel" (խնամել), an infinitive
which means "to take care of".
By the early 9th century the former territories of the Kamsarakans in Arsharunik
and Shirak
(including Ani) had been incorporated into the territories of the Armenian Bagratuni
dynasty. Their leader, Ashot Msaker
(Ashot the Meateater) (806–827) was given the title of ishkhan (prince) of Armenia by the Caliphate
in 804. The Bagratunis had their first capital at Bagaran
, some 40 km south of Ani, before moving it to Shirakavan
, some 25 km northeast of Ani, and then transferring it to Kars
in the year 929. In 961 king Ashot III
(953–977) transferred the capital from Kars to Ani. Ani expanded rapidly during the reign of King Smbat II
(977–989). In 992 the Armenian Catholicosate moved its seat to Ani. In the 10th century the population was perhaps 50,000–100,000.By the start of the 11th century the population of Ani was well over 100,000, and its renown was such that it was known as "The city of forty gates" and "The city of a thousand and one churches."
Ani attained the peak of its power during the long reign of King Gagik I (989–1020). After his death his two sons quarrelled over the succession. The eldest son, Hovhannes Smbat (1020–41), gained control of Ani and his younger brother, Ashot IV (1020–40), controlled other parts of the Bagratuni kingdom
. Hovhannes-Smbat, fearing that the Byzantine Empire
would attack his now weakened kingdom, made the Byzantine Emperor Basil his heir. In January 1022, the Catholicos
Peter, handed over to Basil II
who was wintering with his army in Trebizond
a document from Hovhannes-Smbat pledging his kingdom to the emperor in the event of his death. When Hovhannes-Smbat died in 1041, the successor to Basil, Emperor Michael IV claimed sovereignty over Ani. The new king of Ani, Gagik II
(1042–45), opposed this and several Byzantine armies sent to capture Ani were repulsed. However, in 1045, after the capture of Ashot and at the instigation of pro-Byzantine elements amongst its population, Ani surrendered to Byzantine control. A Greek governor was installed in the city.
Turkish army, headed by Sultan Alp Arslan
, with the help of the Caucasian Georgians
headed by King Bagrat, attacked Ani and after a siege of 25 days they captured the city and slaughtered its population. An account of the sack and massacres in Ani is given by the Arab historian Sibt ibn al-Gawzi, who quotes an eyewitness saying:
In 1072 the Seljuks sold Ani to the Shaddadid
s, a Muslim Kurdish
dynasty. The Shaddadids generally pursued a conciliatory policy towards the city’s overwhelmingly Armenian and Christian population and actually married several members of the Bagratid nobility. Whenever the Shaddadid governance became too intolerant, the population would appeal to the Christian kingdom of Georgia for help. The Georgians captured Ani in 1124, 1161 and 1174, each time eventually returning it to the Shaddadids.
In the year 1199 the forces of the Georgian queen Tamar
captured Ani and dislodged the Shaddadids, the governorship of the city was given to Armenian generals Zakare and Ivane Zakarids
. At Ani, this new dynasty is generally known as the Zakarids
, after its founder Zakare, and they considered themselves to be the successors to the Bagratids. Prosperity quickly returned to Ani; its defences were strengthened and many new churches were constructed. Zakare was succeeded by his son Shahanshah.
The Mongols
unsuccessfully besieged Ani in 1226, but in 1236 they captured and sacked the city, massacring large numbers of its population. Ani had fallen when Shahanshah was absent. On his return the Zakarids continued to rule Ani, only now as vassals of the Mongols rather than the Georgians. Ani started its gradual but terminal decline during the Mongol period. By the 14th century the city was ruled by a succession of local Turkish dynasties, including the Jalayrids and the Kara Koyunlu
(Black Sheep clan) who made Ani their capital. 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 Persian Safavids
then ruled Ani until it became part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire
in 1579. A small town remained within its walls at least until the middle 17th century, but the site was entirely abandoned by the middle of the 18th century. The depopulation of Ani was paralleled by the depopulation of its rural hinterland as a result of political unrest in the border region during the Ottoman-Iranian wars and a fragmentation of central control by either of the empires.
. In 1892 the first archaeological excavations were conducted at Ani, sponsored by the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and supervised by the Russian archaeologist and orientalist Nikolai Marr (1864–1934). Marr's excavations at Ani resumed in 1904 and continued yearly until 1917. Large sectors of the city were professionally excavated, numerous buildings were uncovered and measured, the finds were studied and published in academic journals, guidebooks for the monuments and the museum were written, and the whole site was surveyed for the first time. Emergency repairs were also undertaken on those buildings that were most at risk of collapse. A museum was established to house the tens of thousands of items found during the excavations. This museum was housed in two buildings: the Minuchihr mosque, and a purpose-built stone building.
In 1918, during the latter stages of World War I
, the armies of the Ottoman Empire were fighting their way across the territory of the newly declared Republic of Armenia, capturing Kars
in April 1918. At Ani, attempts were made to evacuate the artefacts contained in the museum as Turkish soldiers were approaching the site. About 6000 of the most portable items were removed by archaeologist Ashkharbek Kalantar
, a participant of Marr's excavation campaigns. At the behest of Joseph Orbeli
, the saved items were consolidated into a museum collection; they are currently part of the collection of Yerevan's State Museum of Armenian History.
Everything that was left behind was later looted or destroyed. Turkey's surrender at the end of World War I led to the restoration of Ani to Armenian control, but a resumed offensive against the Armenian Republic in 1920 resulted in Turkey's recapture of Ani. In 1921 the signing of the Treaty of Kars
formalised the incorporation of the territory containing Ani into the Republic of Turkey.
In May 1921 the Turkish National Assembly
issued a command to the commander of the Eastern Front, Kazım Karabekir
, ordering that the "monuments of Ani be wiped off the face of the earth". Karabekir records in his memoirs that he replied dismissively to this command, but the wiping-out of all traces of Marr's excavations and building repairs suggests that the command was partially carried out.
:
Another commentator describes:
In the estimation of the Landmarks Foundation
(a non-profit organization established for the protection of sacred sites) this ancient city:
As a tourist site
, Ani has been less than welcoming until recently. A traveler gives the following account from a few years ago:
Around 2004 these restrictions were relaxed and photography is now allowed.
Now, according to an author of Lonely Planet
and Frommer's
travel guides to Turkey:
Turkey's authorities now say they will do their best to conserve and develop the site and the culture ministry has listed Ani among the sites it is keenest to conserve. In the words of Mehmet Ufuk Erden, the local governor:
In an October 2010 report titled Saving Our Vanishing Heritage
, Global Heritage Fund
identified Ani as one of 12 worldwide sites most "On the Verge" of irreparable loss and destruction, citing insufficient management and looting as primary causes .
The World Monuments Fund
placed Ani on its 1996, 1998, and 2000 Watch Lists of 100 Most Endangered Sites. In May 2011, WMF announced it was beginning conservation work on the cathedral and Church of the Holy Redeemer in partnership with the Turkish Ministry of Culture.
, the most celebrated architect of medieval Armenia. The cathedral is a domed basilica (the dome collapsed in 1319). The interior contains several progressive features (such as the use of pointed arches and clustered piers) that give to it the appearance of Gothic architecture
(a style which the Ani cathedral predates by several centuries).
. The church was largely intact until 1955, when the entire eastern half collapsed during a storm.
This small building probably dates from the late 10th century. It was built as a private chapel for the Pahlavuni family. Their mausoleum, built in 1040 and now reduced to its foundations, was constructed against the northern side of the church. The church has a centralised plan, with a dome over a drum, and the interior has six exedera.
at Vagharshapat. Nikolai Marr uncovered the foundations of this remarkable building in 1905 and 1906. Before that, all that was visible on the site was a huge earthen mound. The designer of the church was the architect Trdat
. The church is known to have collapsed a relatively short time after its construction and houses were later constructed on top of its ruins. Trdat's design closely follows that of Zvartnotz in its size and in its plan (a quatrefoil core surrounded by a circular ambulatory).
dynasty that ruled Ani after 1072. The oldest surviving part of the mosque is its still intact minaret. It has the Arabic word Bismillah ("In the name of God") in Kufic
lettering high on its northern face. The prayer hall, half of which survives, dates from a later period (the 12th or 13th century). In 1906 the mosque was partially repaired in order for it to house a public museum containing objects found during Nikolai Marr's excavations.
dynasty ruled Ani (7th C. AD). Nikolai Marr excavated the citadel hill in 1908 and 1909. He uncovered the extensive ruins of the palace of the Bagratid kings of Ani that occupied the highest part of the hill. Also inside the citadel are the visible ruins of three churches and several unidentified buildings. One of the churches, the "church of the palace" is the oldest surviving church in Ani, dating from the 6th or 7th century. Marr undertook emergency repairs to this church, but most of it has now collapsed – probably during an earthquake in 1966.
A line of walls that encircled the entire city defended Ani. The most powerful defences were along the northern side of the city, the only part of the site not protected by rivers or ravines. Here the city was protected by a double line of walls, the much taller inner wall studded by numerous large and closely space semicircular towers. Contemporary chroniclers wrote that King Smbat (977–989) built these walls. Later rulers strengthened Smbat's walls by making them substantially higher and thicker, and by adding more towers. Armenian inscriptions from the 12th and 13th century show that private individuals paid for some of these newer towers. The northern walls had three gateways, known as the Lion Gate, the Kars Gate, and the Dvin Gate (also known as the Chequer-Board Gate because of a panel of red and black stone squares over its entrance).
There are many other minor monuments at Ani. These include a convent known as the Virgins' chapel; a church used by Chalcedonian
Armenians; the remains of a single-arched bridge over the Arpa river; the ruins of numerous oil-presses and several bath houses; the remains of a second mosque with a collapsed minaret; a palace that probably dates from the 13th century; the foundations of several other palaces and smaller residences; the recently excavated remains of several streets lined with shops; etc.
Kars Province
Kars Province is a province of Turkey, located in the northeastern part of the country. It shares part of its border with the Republic of Armenia.The provinces of Ardahan and Iğdır were until the 1990s part of Kars Province.-History:...
, near the border with Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
. It was once the capital of a medieval Armenian kingdom
Bagratuni Kingdom of Armenia
The medieval Kingdom of Armenia, also known as Bagratid Armenia , was an independent state established by Ashot I Bagratuni in 885 following nearly two centuries of foreign domination of Greater Armenia under Arab Umayyad and Abbasid rule...
that covered much of present day Armenia and eastern Turkey. The city is located on a triangular site, visually dramatic and naturally defensive, protected on its eastern side by the ravine of the Akhurian River
Akhurian River
The Akhurian, Akhuriyan, Akhuryan or Akhouryan is a river in the South Caucasus. It originates in Armenia and flows from Lake Tseli south, along the border with Turkey, forming part of the geographic border between the two states, until it flows into the Aras River as a left tributary near Bagaran...
and on its western side by the Bostanlar or Tzaghkotzadzor valley. The Akhurian is a branch of the Araks River
Araks River
The Aras , is a river located in and along the countries of Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran. Its total length is...
and forms part of the current border between Turkey and Armenia. Called the "City of 1001 Churches", Ani stood on various trade routes and its many religious buildings
Church architecture
Church architecture refers to the architecture of buildings of Christian churches. It has evolved over the two thousand years of the Christian religion, partly by innovation and partly by imitating other architectural styles as well as responding to changing beliefs, practices and local traditions...
, palaces, and fortifications were amongst the most technically and artistically advanced structures in the world.
At its height, Ani had a population of 100,000–200,000 people and was the rival of Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
and Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
.
Long ago renowned for its splendor and magnificence, Ani has been abandoned and largely forgotten for centuries.
Etymology
Armenian chroniclers such as Yeghishe and Ghazar ParpetsiGhazar Parpetsi
Ghazar Parpetsi was a 5th to 6th century Armenian chronicler and historian. He had close ties with the powerful Mamikonian noble famiily and is most prominent for writing a history of Armenia, History of Armenia, sometime in the early sixth century.-Life:...
first mentioned Ani in the 5th century AD. They described it as a strong fortress built on a hilltop and a possession of the Armenian Kamsarakan
Kamsarakan
Kamsarakan was an Armenian noble family that was an offshoot of the Karen-Pahlav Clan, one of the seven great houses of Parthia of Persian Arsacid origin.Most of their lands were acquired by the Bagratuni during the last quarter of the eight century....
dynasty. The city took its name from the Armenian fortress-city and pagan center of Ani-Kamakh located in the region of Daranaghi in Upper Armenia
Upper Armenia
Upper Armenia is a historic region of Armenia located in present-day Turkey roughly corresponding to the modern province of Erzincan. immediately west of the Kura River. Within the borders of the Kingdom of Armenia, it was bounded by the regions of Dsopk, Taron, Tayk, and Ayrarat. It was called...
. Ani was also previously known as Khnamk (Խնամք), although historians are uncertain as to why it was called so. Johann Heinrich Hübschmann
Johann Heinrich Hübschmann
Johann Heinrich Hübschmann was a German philologist, born at Erfurt. He studied Oriental philology at Jena, Tübingen, Leipzig, and Munich; in 1876 became professor of Iranian languages at Leipzig, and in 1877 professor of comparative philology at Strassburg. He was the first to put the Armenian...
, a German philologist and linguist who studied the Armenian language, suggested that the word may have came from the Armenian word "khnamel" (խնամել), an infinitive
Infinitive
In grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. In the usual description of English, the infinitive of a verb is its basic form with or without the particle to: therefore, do and to do, be and to be, and so on are infinitives...
which means "to take care of".
Capital of the Bagratuni kingdom
Arsharunik
Arsharunik was a historical district in Armenia, part of the province of Ayrarat, north of the river Araxes. Earlier in its history, the area was known as Eraskhadzor, and the important castle of Artagerk was located there....
and Shirak
Shirak
Shirak is a province of Armenia. It is in the north-west of the country, bordering Turkey in the west and Georgia in the north. Its capital is Gyumri. Shirak is known as the homeland of khash. It is as much semi-desert as it is mountain meadow or high alpine...
(including Ani) had been incorporated into the territories of the Armenian Bagratuni
Bagratuni Dynasty
The Bagratuni, Bagratid or alternatively Pakradouni royal dynasty of Armenia was a royal family whose branches formerly ruled many regional polities, including the Armenian lands of Sper|presently Ispir in Tayk Province of the Armenian Kingdom, Bagrevand in Ayrarat Province of the Armenian...
dynasty. Their leader, Ashot Msaker
Ashot Msaker
Ashot Msaker was an Armenian prince from the Bagratid family. He ruled during the years of waning influence of Arab rule in Armenia.Upon his death in 826, Ashot bequeathed his land to two of his sons: the eldest, Bagarat Bagratuni received Taron and Sasun and inherited the prestigious title of...
(Ashot the Meateater) (806–827) was given the title of ishkhan (prince) of Armenia by the Caliphate
Caliphate
The term caliphate, "dominion of a caliph " , refers to the first system of government established in Islam and represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah...
in 804. The Bagratunis had their first capital at Bagaran
Bagaran
Bagaran is a town and former fortress in the Armavir Province of Armenia, located 5 kilometers west of the right bank of the Akhurian River, and formerly a capital of Armenia....
, some 40 km south of Ani, before moving it to Shirakavan
Shirakavan
Shirakavan also known by the name Yerazgavors was a medieval Armenian town that, during the 9th century AD, served as the capital for the Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia...
, some 25 km northeast of Ani, and then transferring it to Kars
Kars
Kars is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of Kars Province. The population of the city is 73,826 as of 2010.-Etymology:As Chorzene, the town appears in Roman historiography as part of ancient Armenia...
in the year 929. In 961 king Ashot III
Ashot III
Ashot III the Merciful also known as Ashot the Gracious was an Armenian king. He ruled from Armenia's capital city of Ani....
(953–977) transferred the capital from Kars to Ani. Ani expanded rapidly during the reign of King Smbat II
Smbat II
Smbat II King of Armenia , son of Ashot III and ruled from Ani. He fortified the city and began the construction of the Cathedral of Ani. Smbat II succeeded to Ashot III, and continued his father’s work. He ordered the construction of a wall around the city of Ani and built towers and...
(977–989). In 992 the Armenian Catholicosate moved its seat to Ani. In the 10th century the population was perhaps 50,000–100,000.By the start of the 11th century the population of Ani was well over 100,000, and its renown was such that it was known as "The city of forty gates" and "The city of a thousand and one churches."
Ani attained the peak of its power during the long reign of King Gagik I (989–1020). After his death his two sons quarrelled over the succession. The eldest son, Hovhannes Smbat (1020–41), gained control of Ani and his younger brother, Ashot IV (1020–40), controlled other parts of the Bagratuni kingdom
Bagratuni Kingdom of Armenia
The medieval Kingdom of Armenia, also known as Bagratid Armenia , was an independent state established by Ashot I Bagratuni in 885 following nearly two centuries of foreign domination of Greater Armenia under Arab Umayyad and Abbasid rule...
. Hovhannes-Smbat, fearing that the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
would attack his now weakened kingdom, made the Byzantine Emperor Basil his heir. In January 1022, the Catholicos
Catholicos
Catholicos, plural Catholicoi, is a title used for the head of certain churches in some Eastern Christian traditions. The title implies autocephaly and in some cases is borne by the designated head of an autonomous church, in which case the holder might have other titles such as Patriarch...
Peter, handed over to Basil II
Basil II
Basil II , known in his time as Basil the Porphyrogenitus and Basil the Young to distinguish him from his ancestor Basil I the Macedonian, was a Byzantine emperor from the Macedonian dynasty who reigned from 10 January 976 to 15 December 1025.The first part of his long reign was dominated...
who was wintering with his army in Trebizond
Trabzon
Trabzon is a city on the Black Sea coast of north-eastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. Trabzon, located on the historical Silk Road, became a melting pot of religions, languages and culture for centuries and a trade gateway to Iran in the southeast and the Caucasus to the northeast...
a document from Hovhannes-Smbat pledging his kingdom to the emperor in the event of his death. When Hovhannes-Smbat died in 1041, the successor to Basil, Emperor Michael IV claimed sovereignty over Ani. The new king of Ani, Gagik II
Gagik II
Gagik II of Ani was the last Bagratuni King of Ani from 1042 to 1045.-Historical background:During the reign of John Smbat III, a feudal lord, David, who owned Taik during his battles against the Muslims, gained a large area which stretched all the way to Manzikert...
(1042–45), opposed this and several Byzantine armies sent to capture Ani were repulsed. However, in 1045, after the capture of Ashot and at the instigation of pro-Byzantine elements amongst its population, Ani surrendered to Byzantine control. A Greek governor was installed in the city.
Cultural and economic center
Ani did not lie along any previously important trade routes, but because of its size, power, and wealth it became an important trading hub. Its primary trading partners were the Byzantine Empire, the Persian Empire, the Arabs, as well as smaller nations in southern Russia and Central Asia.Sacking and desolation
In 1064 a large SeljukSeljuq dynasty
The Seljuq ; were a Turco-Persian Sunni Muslim dynasty that ruled parts of Central Asia and the Middle East from the 11th to 14th centuries...
Turkish army, headed by Sultan Alp Arslan
Alp Arslan
Alp Arslan was the third sultan of the Seljuq dynasty and great-grandson of Seljuk, the eponymous founder of the dynasty...
, with the help of the Caucasian Georgians
Georgians
The Georgians are an ethnic group that have originated in Georgia, where they constitute a majority of the population. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, European Union, United States, and South America....
headed by King Bagrat, attacked Ani and after a siege of 25 days they captured the city and slaughtered its population. An account of the sack and massacres in Ani is given by the Arab historian Sibt ibn al-Gawzi, who quotes an eyewitness saying:
In 1072 the Seljuks sold Ani to the Shaddadid
Shaddadid
The Shaddadids were a Kurdish dynasty who ruled in various parts of Armenia and Arran from 951-1174 AD. They were established in Dvin. Through their long tenure in Armenia, they often intermarried with the Bagratuni royal family of Armenia....
s, a Muslim Kurdish
Kurdish people
The Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...
dynasty. The Shaddadids generally pursued a conciliatory policy towards the city’s overwhelmingly Armenian and Christian population and actually married several members of the Bagratid nobility. Whenever the Shaddadid governance became too intolerant, the population would appeal to the Christian kingdom of Georgia for help. The Georgians captured Ani in 1124, 1161 and 1174, each time eventually returning it to the Shaddadids.
In the year 1199 the forces of the Georgian queen Tamar
Tamar of Georgia
Tamar , of the Bagrationi dynasty, was Queen Regnant of Georgia from 1184 to 1213. Tamar presided over the "Golden age" of the medieval Georgian monarchy...
captured Ani and dislodged the Shaddadids, the governorship of the city was given to Armenian generals Zakare and Ivane Zakarids
Zakarid Armenia
The Zakarids or Zakarid Armenia , is used to describe territories of Armenia given to the Zakarid-Mxargrzeli princes as a fief by Tamar, the queen of the Kingdom of Georgia.- History :...
. At Ani, this new dynasty is generally known as the Zakarids
Zakarid Armenia
The Zakarids or Zakarid Armenia , is used to describe territories of Armenia given to the Zakarid-Mxargrzeli princes as a fief by Tamar, the queen of the Kingdom of Georgia.- History :...
, after its founder Zakare, and they considered themselves to be the successors to the Bagratids. Prosperity quickly returned to Ani; its defences were strengthened and many new churches were constructed. Zakare was succeeded by his son Shahanshah.
The Mongols
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
unsuccessfully besieged Ani in 1226, but in 1236 they captured and sacked the city, massacring large numbers of its population. Ani had fallen when Shahanshah was absent. On his return the Zakarids continued to rule Ani, only now as vassals of the Mongols rather than the Georgians. Ani started its gradual but terminal decline during the Mongol period. By the 14th century the city was ruled by a succession of local Turkish dynasties, including the Jalayrids and the Kara Koyunlu
Kara Koyunlu
The Kara Koyunlu or Qara Qoyunlu, also called the Black Sheep Turkomans , were a Shi'ite Oghuz Turkic tribal federation that ruled over the territory comprising the present-day Armenia, Azerbaijan, north-western Iran, eastern Turkey and Iraq from about 1375 to 1468.The Kara Koyunlu Turkomans at one...
(Black Sheep clan) who made Ani their capital. Tamerlane
Timur
Timur , historically known as Tamerlane in English , was a 14th-century conqueror of West, South and Central Asia, and the founder of the Timurid dynasty in Central Asia, and great-great-grandfather of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Dynasty, which survived as the Mughal Empire in India until...
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 Persian Safavids
Safavid dynasty
The Safavid dynasty was one of the most significant ruling dynasties of Iran. They ruled one of the greatest Persian empires since the Muslim conquest of Persia and established the Twelver school of Shi'a Islam as the official religion of their empire, marking one of the most important turning...
then ruled Ani until it became part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
in 1579. A small town remained within its walls at least until the middle 17th century, but the site was entirely abandoned by the middle of the 18th century. The depopulation of Ani was paralleled by the depopulation of its rural hinterland as a result of political unrest in the border region during the Ottoman-Iranian wars and a fragmentation of central control by either of the empires.
Modern times
In the first half of the 19th century, European travelers discovered Ani for the outside world, publishing their descriptions in academic journals and travel accounts. In 1878 the Kars region, including Ani, was incorporated into the territory of the Russian EmpireRussian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. In 1892 the first archaeological excavations were conducted at Ani, sponsored by the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and supervised by the Russian archaeologist and orientalist Nikolai Marr (1864–1934). Marr's excavations at Ani resumed in 1904 and continued yearly until 1917. Large sectors of the city were professionally excavated, numerous buildings were uncovered and measured, the finds were studied and published in academic journals, guidebooks for the monuments and the museum were written, and the whole site was surveyed for the first time. Emergency repairs were also undertaken on those buildings that were most at risk of collapse. A museum was established to house the tens of thousands of items found during the excavations. This museum was housed in two buildings: the Minuchihr mosque, and a purpose-built stone building.
In 1918, during the latter stages of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, the armies of the Ottoman Empire were fighting their way across the territory of the newly declared Republic of Armenia, capturing Kars
Kars
Kars is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of Kars Province. The population of the city is 73,826 as of 2010.-Etymology:As Chorzene, the town appears in Roman historiography as part of ancient Armenia...
in April 1918. At Ani, attempts were made to evacuate the artefacts contained in the museum as Turkish soldiers were approaching the site. About 6000 of the most portable items were removed by archaeologist Ashkharbek Kalantar
Ashkharbek Kalantar
Ashkharbek Kalantar was an Armenian archaeologist, historian. He had important role in founding of archaeology in Armenia. Born in Armenian noble family of Loris-Meliks, he graduated St.Petersburg University in 1911 under Nicholas Marr...
, a participant of Marr's excavation campaigns. At the behest of Joseph Orbeli
Joseph Orbeli
Joseph Orbeli , 1887 – February 2, 1961) was a renowned Soviet orientalist and academician of Armenian descent who specialized in medieval history of Southern Caucasus and administered the State Hermitage Museum in Leningrad from 1934 to 1951...
, the saved items were consolidated into a museum collection; they are currently part of the collection of Yerevan's State Museum of Armenian History.
Everything that was left behind was later looted or destroyed. Turkey's surrender at the end of World War I led to the restoration of Ani to Armenian control, but a resumed offensive against the Armenian Republic in 1920 resulted in Turkey's recapture of Ani. In 1921 the signing of the Treaty of Kars
Treaty of Kars
The Treaty of Kars was a "friendship" treaty signed in Kars on October 13, 1921 and ratified in Yerevan on September 11 1922.Signatories included representatives from the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, which in 1923 would declare the Republic of Turkey, and also from Soviet Armenia, Soviet...
formalised the incorporation of the territory containing Ani into the Republic of Turkey.
Grand National Assembly of Turkey
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey , usually referred to simply as the Meclis , is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Constitution. It was founded in Ankara on 23 April 1920 in the midst of the Turkish War of Independence...
issued a command to the commander of the Eastern Front, Kazım Karabekir
Kazim Karabekir
Musa Kâzım Karabekir was a Turkish general and politician. He was commander of the Eastern Army in the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I and served as Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey before his death.-Early years:Karabekir was born in 1882 as the son of an Ottoman General,...
, ordering that the "monuments of Ani be wiped off the face of the earth". Karabekir records in his memoirs that he replied dismissively to this command, but the wiping-out of all traces of Marr's excavations and building repairs suggests that the command was partially carried out.
Current state
According to The EconomistThe Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
:
Even as a ruin, Ani has been a disputed city. In 1921 when most of the site was ceded to Turkey, the Armenians were dismayed. They have since accused the Turks of neglecting the place in a spirit of chauvinism. The Turks retort that Ani's remains have been shaken by blasts from a quarryQuarryA quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
on the Armenian side of the border.
Another commentator describes:
Ani is now a ghost cityGhost townA ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
, uninhabited for over three centuries and marooned inside a Turkish military zone on Turkey's border with modern Armenia. Ani's recent history has been one of continuous and always increasing destruction. Neglect, earthquakes, cultural cleansing, vandalism, quarrying, amateurish restorationsBuilding restorationBuilding restoration describes a particular treatment approach and philosophy within the field of architectural conservation. According the U.S...
and excavations – all these and more have taken a heavy toll on Ani's monuments.
In the estimation of the Landmarks Foundation
Landmarks Foundation
Landmarks Foundation, founded in 1997 and based in New York City, is a non-profit organization created to conserve sacred sites and landscapes around the world...
(a non-profit organization established for the protection of sacred sites) this ancient city:
needs to be protected regardless of whose jurisdictionJurisdictionJurisdiction is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to administer justice within a defined area of responsibility...
it falls under. Earthquakes in 1319, 1832, and 1988, Army Target practice and general neglect all have had devastating effects on the architecture of the city. The city of Ani is a sacredSacredHoliness, or sanctity, is in general the state of being holy or sacred...
place which needs ongoing protection.
As a tourist site
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
, Ani has been less than welcoming until recently. A traveler gives the following account from a few years ago:
Around 2004 these restrictions were relaxed and photography is now allowed.
Now, according to an author of Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet is the largest travel guide book and digital media publisher in the world. The company is owned by BBC Worldwide, which bought a 75% share from the founders Maureen and Tony Wheeler in 2007 and the final 25% in February 2011...
and Frommer's
Frommer's
Frommer's is a travel guidebook series and one of the bestselling travel guides in America. The series began in 1957 with the publication of Arthur Frommer's book, Europe on $5 a Day. Frommer's has expanded to include over 350 guidebooks across 14 series, as well as other media including the award...
travel guides to Turkey:
Official permission to visit Ani is no longer needed. Just go to Ani and buy a ticket. If you don't have your own car, haggle with a taxi or minibus driver in Kars for the round-trip to Ani, perhaps sharing the cost with other travelers. If you have trouble, the Tourist Office may help. Plan to spend at least a half-day at Ani. It's not a bad idea to bring a picnic lunch and a water bottle.
Turkey's authorities now say they will do their best to conserve and develop the site and the culture ministry has listed Ani among the sites it is keenest to conserve. In the words of Mehmet Ufuk Erden, the local governor:
By restoring Ani, we'll make a contribution to humanity...We will start with one church and one mosque, and over time we will include every single monument.
In an October 2010 report titled Saving Our Vanishing Heritage
Saving Our Vanishing Heritage
Saving Our Vanishing Heritage: Safeguarding Endangered Cultural Heritage Sites in the Developing World was a report released by Global Heritage Fund on October 17, 2010...
, Global Heritage Fund
Global Heritage Fund
Global Heritage Fund is a non-profit organization that operates internationally. Its mission statement says that it exists to protect and preserve significant and endangered cultural heritage sites in the developing world, through scientific excellence and community development...
identified Ani as one of 12 worldwide sites most "On the Verge" of irreparable loss and destruction, citing insufficient management and looting as primary causes .
The World Monuments Fund
World Monuments Fund
World Monuments Fund is a private, international, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic architecture and cultural heritage sites around the world through fieldwork, advocacy, grantmaking, education, and training....
placed Ani on its 1996, 1998, and 2000 Watch Lists of 100 Most Endangered Sites. In May 2011, WMF announced it was beginning conservation work on the cathedral and Church of the Holy Redeemer in partnership with the Turkish Ministry of Culture.
Monuments at Ani
All the structures at Ani are constructed using the local volcanic basalt, a sort of tufa stone. It is easily carved and comes in a variety of vibrant colors, from creamy yellow, to rose-red, to jet black. The most important surviving monuments are as follows:The cathedral of Ani
Also known as Surp Asdvadzadzin (church of the Holy Mother of God), its construction was started in the year 989, under King Smbat II. Work was halted after his death, and was only finished in 1001 (or in 1010 under another reading of its building inscription). The design of the cathedral was the work of TrdatTrdat the Architect
Trdat the Architect was the chief architect of the Bagratuni kings of Armenia, whose 10th century monuments have been argued to be the forerunners of Gothic architecture which came to Europe several centuries later....
, the most celebrated architect of medieval Armenia. The cathedral is a domed basilica (the dome collapsed in 1319). The interior contains several progressive features (such as the use of pointed arches and clustered piers) that give to it the appearance of Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
(a style which the Ani cathedral predates by several centuries).
Surp Stephanos Georgian Church
There is no inscription giving the date of its construction, but an edict in Georgian is dated 1218. According to the Georgians had unearthed in 1161 as the city's first historic building in 1161 and 1218 between ferman, possibly 13 should be made early in the century.The church of St Gregory of Tigran Honents
This church, finished in 1215, is the best-preserved monument at Ani. It was built during the rule of the Zakarids and was commissioned by the wealthy Armenian merchant Tigran Honents. Its plan is of a type called a domed hall. In front of its entrance are 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 spandrels between blind arcade that runs around all 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 cycles are rare features in Armenian architecture – it is believed that these ones were executed by Georgian artists, and the cycle also includes scenes from the life of St. Nino, who converted the Georgians to Christianity. In the narthex and its chapel survive fragmentary frescoes that are more Byzantine in style.The church of the Holy Redeemer
This church was completed shortly after the year 1035. It had a unique design: 19-sided externally, 8-apsed internally, with a huge central dome set upon a tall drum. It was built by Prince Ablgharib Pahlavid to house a fragment of the True CrossTrue Cross
The True Cross is the name for physical remnants which, by a Christian tradition, are believed to be from the cross upon which Jesus was crucified.According to post-Nicene historians, Socrates Scholasticus and others, the Empress Helena The True Cross is the name for physical remnants which, by a...
. The church was largely intact until 1955, when the entire eastern half collapsed during a storm.
The church of St Gregory of the Abughamrents
King Gagik's church of St Gregory
Also known as the Gagikashen, this church was constructed between the years 1001 and 1005 and intended to be a recreation of the celebrated cathedral of ZvartnotsZvartnots
Zvartnots |translit.]]: , meaning celestial angels) is a town located in the Armenian province of Armavir, about 10 km west from Yerevan, approximately half way to Ejmiatsin....
at Vagharshapat. Nikolai Marr uncovered the foundations of this remarkable building in 1905 and 1906. Before that, all that was visible on the site was a huge earthen mound. The designer of the church was the architect Trdat
Trdat the Architect
Trdat the Architect was the chief architect of the Bagratuni kings of Armenia, whose 10th century monuments have been argued to be the forerunners of Gothic architecture which came to Europe several centuries later....
. The church is known to have collapsed a relatively short time after its construction and houses were later constructed on top of its ruins. Trdat's design closely follows that of Zvartnotz in its size and in its plan (a quatrefoil core surrounded by a circular ambulatory).
The church of the Holy Apostles
The date of its construction is not known, but the earliest dated inscription on its walls is from 1031. It was founded by the Pahlavuni family and was used by the archbishops of Ani (many of whom belonged to that dynasty). It has a plan of a type called an inscribed quatrefoil with corner chambers. Only fragments remain of the church, but a narthex with spectacular stonework, built against the south side of the church, is still partially intact. It dates from the early 13th century. A number of other halls, chapels, and shrines once surrounded this church: Nikolai Marr excavated their foundations in 1909, but they are now mostly destroyed.The mosque of Minuchir
The mosque is named after its presumed founder, Minuchihr, the first member of the ShaddadidShaddadid
The Shaddadids were a Kurdish dynasty who ruled in various parts of Armenia and Arran from 951-1174 AD. They were established in Dvin. Through their long tenure in Armenia, they often intermarried with the Bagratuni royal family of Armenia....
dynasty that ruled Ani after 1072. The oldest surviving part of the mosque is its still intact minaret. It has the Arabic word Bismillah ("In the name of God") in Kufic
Kufic
Kufic is the oldest calligraphic form of the various Arabic scripts and consists of a modified form of the old Nabataean script. Its name is derived from the city of Kufa, Iraq, although it was known in Mesopotamia at least 100 years before the foundation of Kufa. At the time of the emergence of...
lettering high on its northern face. The prayer hall, half of which survives, dates from a later period (the 12th or 13th century). In 1906 the mosque was partially repaired in order for it to house a public museum containing objects found during Nikolai Marr's excavations.
The citadel
At the southern end of Ani is a flat-topped hill once known as Midjnaberd (the Inner Fortress). It has its own defensive walls that date back to the period when the KamsarakanKamsarakan
Kamsarakan was an Armenian noble family that was an offshoot of the Karen-Pahlav Clan, one of the seven great houses of Parthia of Persian Arsacid origin.Most of their lands were acquired by the Bagratuni during the last quarter of the eight century....
dynasty ruled Ani (7th C. AD). Nikolai Marr excavated the citadel hill in 1908 and 1909. He uncovered the extensive ruins of the palace of the Bagratid kings of Ani that occupied the highest part of the hill. Also inside the citadel are the visible ruins of three churches and several unidentified buildings. One of the churches, the "church of the palace" is the oldest surviving church in Ani, dating from the 6th or 7th century. Marr undertook emergency repairs to this church, but most of it has now collapsed – probably during an earthquake in 1966.
The city walls
Other monuments
Chalcedonian
Chalcedonian describes churches and theologians which accept the definition given at the Council of Chalcedon of how the divine and human relate in the person of Jesus Christ...
Armenians; the remains of a single-arched bridge over the Arpa river; the ruins of numerous oil-presses and several bath houses; the remains of a second mosque with a collapsed minaret; a palace that probably dates from the 13th century; the foundations of several other palaces and smaller residences; the recently excavated remains of several streets lined with shops; etc.
Cave Village
Directly outside of Ani, there was a settlement-zone carved into the cliffs. It may have served as "urban sprawl" when Ani grew too large for its city walls. Today, goats and sheep take advantage of the caves' cool interiors. One highlight of this part of Ani is a cave church with frescos on its surviving walls and ceiling.Further reading
External links
- Virtual Ani – has clickable maps, extensive history and photos
- 3D Models of Ani