Heinblog: Ani

The gates of Ani, the City of 1001 Churches. Ani was founded in the 5th century by the Armenian Kamsarakan Dynasty. Ani served as the capital of the Armenian Bagratuni Kingdom from 961 to 1045. At its peak, Ani housed a population of 100,000-200,000 people, a little smaller than Constantinople at the time. After it was captured by the Byzantines, it was subsequently ruled by the Seljuk Turks, Shaddadid Kurds, Georgians, Zakarid Armenians, Mongols, Kara Koyunlu Turks, Tamerlane's Timurid Dynasty, Persian Safavids, Ottoman Empire, Russian Empire, and finally, the Republic of Turkey. The city's strategic location between empires made it a wealthy hub of trade, but ultimately led to more bloodshed than good.

Ani is a 45 minute drive from Kars and is located on the border of Armenia and Turkey. We saw Mount Ararat along the way.

Ani was hard to traverse in deep snow.

The Turkish-Armenian border

The border gorge around Ani contained many cave dwellings.

The Church of the Redeemer was built in 1035 to house a fragment of the True Cross.

The Church of St. Gregory was built in 1215. During this time Armenia, including Ani, was a fief of the Kingdom of Georgia known as Zakarid Armenia. A wealthy Armenian merchant named Tigran Honents funded the church's construction.

Frescoes still survive on the outside and inside of the church.

Ani Cathedral was built in 1001 by Trdat, the greatest architect of the Bagratuni kings of Armenia.

Minuchihr Mosque, built in the 11th century, was the first mosque built in Turkey by the Seljuk Turks. The Kurdish Shaddadids helped the Seljuks conquer the Caucasus, and were made rulers of a vassal state that included Ani and Tbilisi. The Mosque was named after Minuchihr, the first ruler of the Shaddadid Dynasty.