History

Earliest History

 Bronze and Iron age settlements have been excavated on the site, so have possible Uruatian buildings. There is re-used classical masonry in the citadel walls and the remains of what is probably a Zoroastrian fire temple. Ani is first mentioned by Armenian chroniclers in the 5th century A.D. as a strong castle built on a hilltop and a possession of the Kamsarakan dynasty.

In the middle of the 7th century Armenia was invaded and conquered by the Arabs. The ethnic makeup of the population was little changed by this invasion, but it destroyed the existing power structures and paved the way for the eventual emergence of new ruling dynasties. By the end of the 9th century Armenia had regained most of her former independence - but was divided into numerous kingdoms and principalities. The two most powerful Armenian kingdoms were those of the Artzruni dynasty, who were based around Lake Van, and the Bagratid dynasty, who ruled most of north-eastern Armenia and who would eventually have their capital at Ani.

The Bagratid Period

The Bagratids bought the castle of Ani and its nearby estates from the Kamsarakans, and in the year 971 the Bagratid king Ashot III transferred his capital from Kars to Ani. At this time Ani was probably little more than a fortress town built around the citadel hill. King Ashot constructed new city walls across the narrowest point of the site, below and a little to the north of the citadel (there may have been older earthen ramparts along the same route). The city grew so quickly that the much larger outer walls to the north were completed by the year 989. The ruins that still extend beyond these walls prove that even they did not enclose a large enough area to contain the whole population.

Ani became an important crossroads for merchant caravans and the city controlled trade routes between Byzantium, Persia, Syria and central Asia. Merchants and craftsmen flocked to Ani from Armenia's older cities, accompanied by a flow of population from the rural areas of Armenia. In 992 the Armenian Katholikosat moved its seat to Ani: at the start of the 11th century there were 12 bishops, 40 monks and 500 priests in the city. By the 11th century the population of Ani was well over 100 000, perhaps as high as 200 000, and its wealth and renown was such that it was known as "the city of a thousand and one churches".

After King Gagik I died in 1020 his two sons quarrelled and fought over who should succeed him. The eldest son, Hovhannes-Sembat, gained control of Ani. His younger brother, Ashot, controlled other parts of the Bagratid kingdom. Hovhannes had supported the ruler of Georgia in that king's war against the expansionist Byzantine empire and he feared that the Byzantines would now attack the weakened Bagratid Kingdom. To try and avoid this he made the Byzantine emperor Basil the heir to his dominions.

Ani Under Byzantine Rule

King Hovhannes died in 1041, and the then Byzantine emperor Michael IV claimed sovereignty over Ani. Hovhannes had died childless so the people of Ani put forward the son of Ashot, Gagik II, as his successor. A Byzantine army sent to capture Ani was defeated in 1042. (Armenian chroniclers speak of Byzantine losses of more than 20,000 men, but Byzantine chroniclers are silent about the whole event). Pro-Byzantine Armenians in the city persuaded Gagik to go to Constantinople to sign a peace treaty; on arriving there Gagik was imprisoned. The Byzantines again attacked Ani, and again they were defeated, but in 1045 the city's population, realising that they were leaderless and surrounded by enemies, decided to surrender Ani to the Byzantines. King Gagik II was given a palace in Constantinople and the city of Caesarea (modern Kayseri) as compensation. After the Turkish invasions into the Byzantine empire, he was murdered in the Greek held castle of Cybistra in northern Cilicia. Constantine, the son of Rupen, one of Gagik's generals, was later to be the founder of the separate Armenian kingdom in Cilicia.

Ani Captured By the Turks

 Raiding parties of Turks, originating from central Asia, began to reach Armenia and Byzantine Anatolia in the second half of the eleventh century. The Byzantine Empire was not successful in stopping the advance of the Turkish Seljuk armies that were ever increasing in size and in confidence. In the summer of 1064 a large Seljuk Turkish army attacked Ani, and after a siege of 25 days they captured the city.
In the year 1071, at the Battle of Malazgirt, the Turkish armies won a decisive victory over a combined Byzantine and Armenian force, and the Byzantine emperor Romanus Diogenese was taken prisoner. There was now nothing to protect Armenia, and much of the Byzantine Empire, from the waves of Turkish invasions.

Ani Under Georgian

Rule In 1072 the Turks sold Ani to the Kurdish Shaddadid dynasty, who maintained a precarious hold of Ani until the end of the 12th century (loosing it several times to the Georgians or to internal rebellions by the city's still almost exclusively Armenian population). In the year 1200 the Georgian queen Tamara captured Ani and gave it to the Mkhargrdzeli family, whose territory eventually resembled that of the Bagratid kingdom in size. Under their rule Ani regained much of its former prosperity - several of the churches date from this period, as do many of the towers in the city walls. The region was invaded and occupied by the Mongols in 1237, but
after the usual killing
and looting some stability returned and the Mkhargrdzeli dynasty continued to rule Ani, only now as vassals of the Mongols rather than the Georgians. However, by the 1330s they had lost control of the city to a succession of Turkish dynasties, including the Kara Koyunlu (Black Sheep clan) who made Ani their capital.

The Decline and Death of Ani

The mass emigration of the population had started with the Mongol invasions. By the mid 14th century Ani had ceased to be a trading city and the remaining trade routes now passed further to the south. Tamerlane captured Ani in the 1380s, but on his death the Kara Koyunlu regained control. By then Ani was about to collapse as a city - the Kara Koyunlu transferred their capital to Yerevan (the Armenian Katholikosat did the same in 1441) and much of the city’s remaining population abandoned it. It is a myth (still propagated in many guide books about Turkey) that the city was abandoned after an earthquake in 1319.

Ani became part of the Ottoman Turkish empire in 1579. A small town still remained within its walls at least until the mid 17th century, and a European traveller in the early 17th century mentions the existence of 200 churches in Ani and the immediate neighbourhood. The final decline of Ani was accompanied by the desertion of the rural population as the region became over-run by nomadic Kurdish tribes who would rob and murder at will. The survival of any form of settled life, whether by Christians or Muslims, ultimately became unsustainable. The church at Kizkale was in use by monks at least until 1735, so the final and total abandonment of the site is probably the mid 18th century. By the beginning of the 19th century Ani was empty of human beings.

Early Travellers to Ani

 "...the entire country having the appearance of a vast wilderness, desolate and solitary, with here and there a ruin standing naked and isolated, as if to remind the traveller that this waste had once been fertile, populous, and inhabited by a highly civilised nation." - The traveller John Ussher

At the start of the 19th century most of Armenia was an unknown region, unmapped and virtually unexplored. Travel conditions were extremely difficult - it was an unsettled land, filled with bandits and almost without roads. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the number of European travellers to Armenia gradually increased as the century progressed.

Most of these journeys took place at the end of autumn or during the winter months. The reason is explained by the traveller Richard Wilbraham:

"During the winter it is much safer to travel among the Koords than during the summer; for when the plains no longer afford pasture for their flocks they retire to their villages, leaving behind them the lawless, predatory habits in some degree inseparable from a nomade life."

The ruins of Ani are mentioned in some detail in the writings of the following travellers - click onto their name to download their account. Sir Robert Ker Porter (he visited Ani in 1817). William Hamilton (he visited Ani in 1836). K. E. Abbot (he visited Ani in 1836). Captain Richard Wilbraham (he visited Ani in 1837). Charles Gordon (who visited Ani in 1857). John Ussher (who visited Ani in the 1860s).

The publication of books in Armenian such as "Journey into Greater Armenia" by Sargis Dgaleantz in 1842, and "Description of Greater Armenia" by L. Alishan, in 1855, led to the rediscovery of Ani by Armenians - many of whom now lived outside the territory of historic Armenia.

In 1839 the Frenchman Charles Texier visited Ani, and in 1842 he published his "Description de l'Armenie" containing ten large engravings of Ani that awakened Western interest in Armenian architecture. The book "Les Ruines d'Ani" by Marie-Felicite Brosset, published in St. Petersburg in 1860, also contained many engravings of Ani that were based on drawings done by previous travellers.

Ani Under Russian Rule

 The most significant event to effect Ani during the 19th century happened in the year 1878. Following Russia's successful war against Turkey the previous year, the Kars region was incorporated into the Russian empire. Under Russian rule the Kurds were pacified (or migrated into Turkish territory to continue their lifestyle of robbery and murder), new roads were constructed, towns expanded, and the region gradually became safe for civilised life. There was also a great influx of Armenian settlers into what was an almost empty land, recreating a native population who had an interest in the ruins of Ani and their preservation.

Those Armenians probably did not look upon Ani in quite the same way as Europeans would look at a romantic ruin enveloped in vegetation. Most of Armenia was a desolated land filled with the ruins of abandoned settlements, and Ani was seen as the most dramatic example of that destruction - a symbol of Armenia's lost glory and inspiration for what could be attained in the future. By the end of the 19th century, Ani for Armenians had became more than a place - it had became an ideal. Novels, plays, and even operas were written using Ani as inspiration.

G. I. Gurdjieff , the philosopher and mystic, also found inspiration amid the ruins of Ani. Many buildings put up in the Russian controlled parts of Armenia during this period have architectural motifs derived from buildings in Ani. The cathedral was a particular source of inspiration and new churches based on its design were built in the towns of Kars and Alexandropol (later renamed Leninakan, now called Gyumri).

The most important description of Ani at the end of the 19th century was written by the British traveller H. F. B. Lynch in his book "Armenia: Travels and Studies", published in 1901.

Archaeological Excavations at Ani

The years 1892 and 1893 marked the start of proper archaeological excavations at Ani. The city walls of King Ashot were uncovered. Nearby, the foundations of a church containing frescoes were revealed, and there were excavations around the Church of the Redeemer. These works were sponsored by the St. Petersburg Academy of Scientists and were supervised by the Russian archaeologist and orientalist Nikolai Marr (1864-1934).

After a break, Marr's excavations at Ani resumed in 1904 and they continued yearly until 1917. Large sectors of the city were excavated, the whole site was surveyed. Two museums were established to house many of the finds, one was inside the Mosque of Minuchir. Click here to view a page about Nikolai Marr and his excavations at Ani . The numerous examples of Armenian and Russian graffiti that are still visible on the walls of many churches testify to a growing number of visitors to Ani.

The Return of the Turks

During the First World War, massacres and deportations within the Turkish controlled parts of Armenia resulted in the near total destruction of the Armenian population there. The collapse of the Imperial Russian army after the 1917 revolution enabled Turkey to cut a swathe of destruction across the newly declared Republic of Armenia, capturing Kars in April 1918 and eventually reaching Baku on the Caspian sea.

At Ani, attempts were made to evacuate the most valuable exhibits from the two museums before the Turkish army arrived. The archaeologist Ashkharbek Kalantar is said to have organised the evacuation of about 6000 items. This apparently large number presumably included small items like coins. Everything that was left behind (including the excavation archives, surveys, reports, and photographs) was later looted or destroyed. See the page about Nikolai Marr for more information on this period.

Defeat on other fronts caused Turkey to surrender and withdraw to the pre-war borders. They left a devastated land behind them. In 1920 Turkey renewed its offensive. The Armenian army - over extended, under equipped, badly trained, badly led, and with poor moral - could not stop this new invasion. Kars again fell to the Turks (October 1920), so did Alexandropol.

In November 1920 the Bolsheviks invaded the remaining territory of the Armenian republic. With Armenia now under Soviet 'protection' the Turks ceased their advance and even withdrew from some captured territory, including Alexandropol.

The Bolsheviks wanted good relations with Kemalist Turkey, and in 1921 they signed the "Treaty of Kars" that officially ceded the towns of Kars, Sarikamish, Igdir, Kagizman, Ardahan, Artvin, and Oltu to Turkey. What was left of the Armenian population in these areas was forced to leave, and all the still active medieval Armenian churches and monasteries (including Horomos and Khtzkonk ) were abandoned. The Akhurian or Arpa river became the new border between Turkey and Soviet Armenia. Ani was left stranded on the Turkish side of that new border, within an increasingly tense region that was forbidden to foreigners.

One of the last visitors to Ani during this era was the writer Konstantin Paustovsky in the year 1923.

After The First World War

 From 1915 until the early 1920s a series of massacres and deportations resulted in the destruction of almost the entire Armenian population within Turkish controlled territory. An estimated 1½ million Armenians perished at the hands of the Turkish and Kurdish perpetrators of this genocide.

To this day the Turkish State disputes that anything which could be classified as "genocide" actually took place. An important part of this denial has taken the form of minimising or removing evidence of the long Armenian presence in what is now eastern Turkey. If the victims never existed then how could they be killed, and if (a few) were killed then why should it matter if they, as a people, were of no cultural significance? With this aim, official Turkish history has been rewritten to eliminate the importance of Armenia and invent or exaggerate Turkish influences, population statistics have been falsified, and most place names of Armenian origin have been changed to Turkish ones. None of this encourages the preservation of Armenian buildings, the most obvious reminder and legacy of a past that Turkey wishes to entirely eliminate.

Cultural Genocide

After the killing or removal by other means of a region's original population, the destruction of that population's cultural monuments invariably follows. The most recent example of this process occured in Kossovo .

"A people which is cut off from its own past is far less free to choose and to act as a people than one which has been able to situate itself in history. This is why - and this is the only reason why - the entire art of the past has now become a political issue" - John Berger, "Ways of Seeing"

In the years following the Armenian Genocide hundreds of Armenian churches in Turkey were deliberately destroyed because of their Armenian origin, a policy which continued at least into the 1970s. Hundreds, probably thousands, more have been allowed to fall into ruin, or to be plundered for building material, or to be demolished for redevelopment. The majority of these buildings had never been properly studied or even photographed. Since the 1930s there has been a conspiracy of silence amongst western archaeologists and art historians regarding Armenian sites in Turkey: they seem to turn unaccountably blind, deaf, and dumb whenever the word "Armenia" is mentioned. Even Armenian academics have participated in the cover-up. ¹

Today within Turkey, surviving Armenian buildings (especially those important for tourism) are often presented as being of Turkish or Byzantine origin, or they are presented as isolated examples that are unconnected to any larger Armenian culture, or the Armenian identities of the builders are disguised by calling them "Bagratid" or "Artzrouni" (the names of medieval Armenian princely families).

What Happened at Ani?

In May 1921 Riza Nur, a member of the Turkish Assembly, wrote to general Kazim Karabekir, commander of the Eastern Front, ordering that "the relics and the traces of the monuments of Ani be wiped off the face of the earth" . He added "You will be rendering a great service to Turkey when you accomplish this goal"  ². Karabekir recorded in his memoirs that he replied dismissively to Nur, saying that the Ani ruins were vast, like the walls of Istanbul, and that even if they were destroyed - which in itself would be a very difficult task - they would still remain as ruins on the same spot. He also warned that the destruction of Ani would be likely to stir up sentiment amongst the Armenian religious community.

Some destruction did take place. Most of what seems to have been destroyed were the visible results of Nikolai Marr's excavations, including most of his repairs and restorations. Certain structures that would have been seen as having symbolic importance to Armenians may also have been destroyed at this time (such as the tomb of King Ashot at Horomos, and the khatchkar monument of Catholicos Barsegh).

Many Armenian monuments in the vicinity of Ani have been destroyed since 1920. The dates of their destruction are not exactly known. See the pages on the Khtzkonk and Bagnayr monasteries, the Tekor basilica, and Magazberd for examples.

Even though the 1921 order for the total demolition of Ani was not carried out, the history of Ani since the 1920s has been one of continuous and increasing destruction. The reasons for this can be placed into several categories:

Damage Due To Natural Events

An earthquake in 1935 is said to have destroyed most of the Oğuzlu church . Half of the church of the Redeemer collapsed during a storm in 1957. The Russian excavators had repaired this building. The Georgian church had collapsed by the 1960s, this building had also been repaired by the Russians. The church of the Shepherd and the citadel church known as the "mausoleum of the child princes" were destroyed in another earthquake in 1966. The southern half of the "palace church" probably collapsed during the same earthquake. The earthquake that devastated northern Armenia on the 7th December 1988 was also felt at Ani. There was damage to the city walls, to the narthex of the Tigran Honents church , and, in particular, to the north-west corner of the cathedral , which collapsed.

The surviving half of the church of the Redeemer has now reached a state of imminent collapse, as have the southwest corner of the Cathedral, the surviving parts of the narthex of the church of Tigran Honents, and the hall of the church of the Apostles .

Damage Caused by Vandalism

Digging amongst the ruins by local villagers hunting for treasure used to be common. Fortunately, the damage caused by this activity was mostly small in scale - an exception being the 1998 breaking open of the graves in the burial chapels next to the church of Saint Gregory of the Abughamir's .

Visitors to Ani, both Turkish and foreign, seem to think that there is nothing wrong in writing their names onto the walls of the churches. The church of Tigran Honents, because of its frescoes, has been particularly susceptible to this sort of damage. Since the removal of travel restrictions to Ani in 2004, many Turkish visitors now come to Ani to picnic amongst the ruins. In total ignorance about how to behave at an archaeological site, they start fires, leave lots of rubbish behind, and use the churches as urinals. Visitors from Armenia are just as ignorant - as proof, one need only to note the number of discarded empty bottles of "Noy" mineral water that now litter the site.

Officially Sanctioned Damage

Because the cathedral is the most prominent Armenian building in Ani it is the most likely candidate to suffer from state censorship. The interior walls of the cathedral are covered with crudely applied daubs of modern white paint. This paint has been put there to hide Armenian inscriptions. In other locations the paint has been carefully applied in blocks and has been chosen to blend in with the colour of the stone. The application of this paint occured not later than 1983. Probably, many of the inscriptions dated from after the fall of Ani and they have been hidden to remove the visible evidence of a continuing Armenian population in the Kars region especially during the Russian period.

When the amount of tourist graffiti covering the frescoes inside the Tigran Honents church became too great, the supposed custodians of Ani simply covered over the damaged parts with white paint. The frescoes on the northern wall of this church were particularly badly damaged by graffiti (including a large CND symbol carved into the plaster). To 'tidy' this section up the entire lower registry of paintings was chipped off! This destruction occurred during the early 1990s. It must have taken a considerable amount of time and effort to accomplish, and could not have been done without the use of scaffolding or ladders.

The Stone Quarry Opposite

 Ani In 1999 a quarry was opened on the Armenian side of the border to extract stone for a new cathedral that was being built in Yerevan to mark the 1700th anniversary of Armenia's conversion to Christianity. It was decided to use "Ani stone" as a gimmick to attract the rich foreign donors needed to pay for its construction. The quarry was not closed when the cathedral was finished and it grows bigger with each passing year.

In addition to the obvious environmental damage to the landscape, and the noise pollution from the constant sound of heavy machinery, explosions within this quarry caused the fragile buildings at Ani to literally shake.