Story
The story of Ani
Legend has it that this silent field of ruins once held more than 100,000 people. Stretching along the Arpaçay river southeast of Kars, Ani was the capital of the Armenian Bagratid kings from 961 to 1045; Ashot III moved his capital here in 961 and began building a great city. It reached its golden age under Smbat II and his son Gagik.
In 1045 the Byzantines seized it, and in 1064 Ani surrendered to the Seljuk sultan Alp Arslan. Walk along the repaired walls and look for carved lions, dragons and double-headed eagles. The Mosque of Abu'l Manuchihr, built in 1072 by the Shaddadid emir Manuchihr, is considered Ani's most important Islamic monument, and the inner citadel holds a building that may have been a Zoroastrian fire temple.
The earthquake of 1319 and Timur's destruction took their toll. In 2016 UNESCO inscribed Ani as a World Heritage Site.
This story is compiled from Wikipedia and other open sources; dates and numbers are checked against the source. The text is shared under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Source ↗
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More highlights in Kars
- Menüçehr MosqueMenucihr Mosque, also Manučehr Mosque is a mosque in the medieval city of Ani in Kars Province, Turkey. It was built between 1072 and 1086 by Manuchihr ibn Shavur of the Kurdish Shaddadid dynasty.
- Castle of KarsThe Castle of Kars is a former fortification located in Kars, Turkey. It is also known under the name İç Kale.
- Kars MuseumThe Kars Museum was opened in 1963 in the Cathedral of Kars (now the Kümbet Mosque) of Kars, Turkey. The structure was first built as an Armenian church (The Holy Apostles Church) under the Armenian Bagratuni dynasty by Abbas in 930–937.
- Cathedral of KarsThe Cathedral of Kars, also known as the Holy Apostles Church is a former Armenian Apostolic church in Kars, eastern Turkey.
- Church of Saint Gregory of Tigran HonentsThe Church of St Gregory of Tigran Honents, or Church of Saint Gregory the Illuminator is a medieval religious structure located in Ani, in Turkey's Kars province next to the closed border with Armenia.