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At first glimpse this may look just like a barren landscape with a few collapsed buildings. But looking closer you will find some amazing relics from the glorious past of this place.
The caves in the canyon walls are dating back to the kingdom of Urartu around 1000 BC.
In the 5th century AD Ani is mentioned as a fortress and in the 10th century it became the capitol of the Christian Armenian kingdom, with over 100000 people living there and hundreds of churches.
After being conquered by various enemies and an earthquake in 1319 the city lost it's importance and was finally deserted in the 18th century.
Today the river Akhurian is the border between Armenia and Turkey, the ruins being on the Turkish side. You can see the Turkish border fence close to the collapsed bridge on the left bank in the canyon and some Armenian border posts on the East side of the river.
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Comments
Gruss Walter
There are lots of pictures from the churches in the web and a panorama from the city wall in Wikipedia, but I wanted to give an overview with the canyons and the vast sky above. My point of view wasn't accessible until recently, because the Turkish border guards loosened their restrictions, so I had to take this shot, even though I was close to a heat stroke in the scorching midday heat.
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