Ani
Cathedral
On the border of Turkey and Armenia, 45 kilometers West of Kars,
lies the ghost town Ani. At its heyday, one thousand years ago, Ani was the capital of an
Armenian kingdom. It had a population of more than 100,000 people and was the
rival of Constantinople, Baghdad and Cairo. At that time Ani was called
"The City of 1001 Churches" and was renowned for the splendor and
magnificence of its buildings.
Ani is first mentioned in Armenian chronicles in the 5th century
A.D. Located on the crossroad of the trade routes between Byzantium, Persia,
Syria, and central Asia it flourished, and in the 11th century its population was
above 100,000 people. By the end of the 11th century Ani was subsequently
occupied by the Byzantines and Seljuk Turks, who sold it to the Kurdish
Shaddadid dynasty. In the year 1200 it was taken again by the Georgian queen
Tamara who gave it to the Mkhargrdzeli family. Under their rule Ani prospered
again and regained much of its former glory. In 1237 it fell to the
Mongols who ransacked the city, then Tamerlane rampaged through and
mercilessly destroyed what was left. When the trade routes moved further south,
the once bustling metropolis lost its revenue from trade and soon the entire
province died. Now, its once crowded streets and
marketplaces are empty as the city turned into a ghost town, deserted except for
the presence of Turkish soldiers and the occasional tourist.
Due to the proximity of the border, just as in Soviet days, visitors to Ani
must first obtain permission from the tourist office in Kars. The lengthy
procedure which is mentioned in many guidebooks has been shortcut and there is
no need anymore to pay a visit to the police and the museum in Kars. Permit and
entrance ticket are now issued at the Kars tourist office. The employees request
the plate number of your car or taxi and try to sell you a packaged tour that
they organize. This being the good news. The bad news is that, due to tensions
with Armenia, photography is again strictly forbidden. When we arrived at Ani,
all cameras had to remain in the car. During the visit, after a friendly body search, we
were constantly escorted by border guards to ensure that no one went too close
to the border. The pictures you find here are scanned-in photographs that
I bought at the Kars tourist office.
When walking through the remains of Ani, the words from the Threnody of the
Armenian poet Aristakes of Lastivert come into mind.
"Where are the thrones of our kings ? They are
nowhere to be seen. Where are the legions who walked in front of them, in closed
rows like a dense thunder cloud, colourful like the flowers in spring and
shining in their uniforms? Where is the great and wonderful patriarchal
throne? Today it stands empty, robbed from its ruler, deprived from its
ornaments, covered by dust and spin rags and the heir of the throne taken to a
foreign country as prisoner. The prayers and songs of the priest have silenced.
The candles in the beautiful candle stick have been put out, the lamps
dimmed, the sweet smell of incense evaporated, the altar of our Lord is buried
under dust and ashes. Now, that all with we fell connected has been taken from
us by our sinfulness, now then tell heaven and all who stay there, tell the
mountains and the hills and the dense forests, that they too may weep over
ending."
More details about Ani can be found at the Virtual
Ani site.
Click on the thumbnails to get a greater picture
