History Lovers
Turkey (Armenian Border)
A city of 100,000 people abandoned on a militarised border. The wind is the only thing that still lives here.
The Forgotten Atlas — Field Report
A city of 100,000 people abandoned on a militarised border. The wind is the only thing that still lives here.
In its prime Ani was one of the great cities of the medieval world. The capital of the Bagratid Armenian kingdom, with a population of 100,000 people — more than London had at the same time. It sat at the crossroads of trade routes connecting Asia to Europe, and the wealth of that position funded extraordinary buildings: a cathedral whose dome was an engineering marvel, a mosque, churches, palaces, the great walls that surrounded the entire city. Medieval travellers called it the City of a Thousand and One Churches.
To stand in Ani is to stand in a gap between what was and what is that most ruins cannot create. The distance between those two things here is almost unbearable.
The Forgotten Atlas
The Mongols came in 1236 and the city never fully recovered. The trade routes shifted. Earthquakes damaged the great buildings. The Armenian population was displaced. By the 17th century the city was abandoned. Then the border between Turkey and the Soviet Union — now Turkey and Armenia — was drawn directly through the site, and Ani became a militarised zone. For decades it was barely accessible at all. Today you can visit on the Turkish side. The Armenian side of the Akhurian River gorge looks across at it from the other bank.
Ani today is a windswept plateau on the edge of a dramatic river gorge. The ruins are vast and scattered — the Cathedral of Ani, still partially standing despite everything; the Church of the Redeemer, half collapsed in a 1957 earthquake, its cross-section exposed like a doll's house; the Menüçehr Mosque, the oldest surviving mosque in Anatolia. You will almost certainly be alone here, or close to it. The wind comes off the mountains and moves through the ruins constantly. In the afternoon light the stonework turns gold.
Ani is 45km from Kars. Hire a taxi from Kars for the day. The drive across the plateau is part of the experience. Give yourself four hours at the site.
Built in 1001 AD by the architect Trdat, who also repaired the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. The largest medieval Armenian church ever built.
Split in half by lightning in 1957. The intact half still stands. Looking at the exposed interior is one of the most arresting things you will see at any ruin.
The great walls of Ani stretch for kilometres and are still largely intact. The scale of the original city becomes apparent only when you walk along them.
Perched on the edge of the gorge with a view across into Armenia. The oldest surviving mosque in Anatolia, built in 1072.
In Kars city. The best place to eat before or after Ani. Kars is famous for its cheese and its beef — both are extraordinary.
Goose dishes specific to the Kars region. Unusual and excellent. A good introduction to the local food culture.
There are no facilities at Ani itself. Bring food and water from Kars for a picnic among the ruins.
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