The City of Ani
An 1885 engraving of Ani.
Panoramic view of north walls of Ani, April 2011.
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, a branch of the Araks River and forms part of the current border between Turkey and Armenia, and on its western side by the Bostanlar or Tzaghkotzadzor valley.
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.
The city took its name from the Armenian fortress-city and pagan center of Ani-Kamakh, now known as Kemah, the principal temple of aramazd was in ani, now a town and district of Erzincan Province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. Ani was also the diminutive name of ancient Armenian goddess Anahit who was seen as the mother-protector of Armenia.
After the fall of the Urartian Kingdom, the newly formed Armenian nation inherited and carried on the building art of the Urartians and other local tribes. During this period, the ancient cities (Ani, Kamakh, Van Armavir) were rebuilt and new cities, fortress and castles were constructed (Arshamashat, Arkatiokert, Yervandashat, Yervandakert, etc).
According to the Epic Histories written by the 5th century historian Pavstos Buzand (also known as Faustus of Byzantium), he accounts that King Shapur II the Great of Persia after having recaptured Armenia and occupying Ani-Kamakh, discovered there the treasures and tombs of the Armenian Arshakuni Kings.
King Shapur II ordered his troops to exhume the royal remains and in doing so, destroyed the Arshakuni ancestral tombs that were at Ani-Kamakh. There was however the tomb of King Sanatruk that escaped this looting and destruction due to its enormous, impenetrable and ingeniously built structure.
The loot and exhumed remains of the other kings were then carried off en route to Persia with the belief held that the land in which the kings’ bones are interred will gain from them their fame, fortune and strength. King Shapur II wanted these actions to lessen the morale of the Armenians as well.
The Armenian Sparapet Vassak Mamikonian during the mid-4th century gathered together approximately 60,000 troops and defeated the Persians in the district of Ayrarat, recapturing the treasures and bones of the Armenian kings. He brought the royal remains to Dzorap (modern day Aghtsk) where he soon had them reinterred at a newly constructed mausoleum, separating Christian kings from the pagan kings.
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