Turkey, Ani, 10th cent - A History of Romanesque Architecture 300 - 1300 (sitios de interés)
Descripción del sitio
This marker is part of an illustrated Survey of Romanesque Architecture, 300 to 1300 AD. To see and read all comments you have to download the post to your hard disk.Once mighty Ani, the city of 100 churches, 10th cent
Together with Trabzon, Merv-Mary, Marikanda-Samarkand, and Karakhoto near Turpan, China, Ani was once a rich and important city along the Silk Road. Marco Polo slept here. Ani was first destroyed by the Selçuks in the 11th, a second time by Timur Tamerlane in the 13th century, finally an earthquake leveled it for good. In between it was for a while the capital of the Armenian kings, and the Armenians still consider "the City of a Hundred Churches" their holy shrine. Since the Russo-Turkish war of 1918 and especially in the 1960s it had been inaccessible to foreigners. For the first time one could visit it on one's own without a military escort.
Unexcavated and neglected, there is not much to see. On a triangular plateau between two rivers covered with rubble three churches — easily identified by their careful masonry as Armenian — are still standing. This is Gagik's church of St. Gregory (1000)..
The high nave of the Armenian Cathedral (989-1010), unmistakably high-Armenian architecture...
... and a third church of St. Gregory of the Abughamrents, resembling the church at Svarnots near Yerevan, Armenia.
The maonastery of the Hripsimian Virgin in the gorge of the Arpaçay (Akhurian) river, the eastern border of Ani and of Turkey. The opposite bank is Armenia and was once the Soviet Union. In the distance one can see, once again, a flourishing Armenian town...
For a detailed historical map of Ani click here Ani Map
