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THE CRUMBLING RUINS OF THE CITY OF ANI (PHOTOS)
The Weather Channel
feb 18 2014
By Lorraine Boissoneault
The crumbling ruins speckle the Turkish border with Armenia in a
hodgepodge fashion; a half-standing wall here, an empty church there.
Standing in defiance to the elements and to the geopolitical turmoil
that has ravaged the region of generations, the ancient ruins of Ani
are a reminder of both mankind's ability to build magnificent cities
and our willingness to allow these monuments to succumb to decay.
The various structures of Ani have stood for hundreds of years, with
historians first mentioning the city in the 5th century, according to
Armenian History. Known as the "City of a Thousand and ONe Churches,"
Ani rose to prominence in the Middle Ages. The city included a citadel,
an inner city, suburbs and an underground city of caves.
Around the 11th century, Ani had around 100,000 residents, despite
the surrounding area being repeatedly destroyed and conquered by
Ottoman Turks, Byzantine emperors, nomadic Kurds and Russians, wrote
The Atlantic.
But the city wasn't destined to survey until the modern era. After
being conquered and ransacked several times, Ani went into decline
and was finally abandoned in the 1700s. But the city's tragic destiny
didn't end when its citizens left. The buildings were raided by vandals
and looters and the remaining structures were neglected. In 2010 the
Global Heritage Fund listed Ani as being in danger of disappearing
entirely due to insufficient management, neglect and looting and
vandalism by Turks trying to eliminate Armenian history, the Global
Heritage Fund wrote.
Since that time, further efforts have been made to safeguard the
city's future. The most recent archaeological excavations took place
in 2011 and it has become a popular destination for tourists straying
off the beaten path and visiting the eastern border of Turkey.
"When we speak of Ani, we call it an iceberg," said the Kars Culture
and Tourism Director to the Turkish newspaper, Hurriyet Daily News.
"The visible surface is one-tenth of the invisible face of Ani."
View slide show of photos at
http://www.weather.com/travel/crumbling-ruins-city-ani-photos-20140217
From: Baghdasarian
The Weather Channel
feb 18 2014
By Lorraine Boissoneault
The crumbling ruins speckle the Turkish border with Armenia in a
hodgepodge fashion; a half-standing wall here, an empty church there.
Standing in defiance to the elements and to the geopolitical turmoil
that has ravaged the region of generations, the ancient ruins of Ani
are a reminder of both mankind's ability to build magnificent cities
and our willingness to allow these monuments to succumb to decay.
The various structures of Ani have stood for hundreds of years, with
historians first mentioning the city in the 5th century, according to
Armenian History. Known as the "City of a Thousand and ONe Churches,"
Ani rose to prominence in the Middle Ages. The city included a citadel,
an inner city, suburbs and an underground city of caves.
Around the 11th century, Ani had around 100,000 residents, despite
the surrounding area being repeatedly destroyed and conquered by
Ottoman Turks, Byzantine emperors, nomadic Kurds and Russians, wrote
The Atlantic.
But the city wasn't destined to survey until the modern era. After
being conquered and ransacked several times, Ani went into decline
and was finally abandoned in the 1700s. But the city's tragic destiny
didn't end when its citizens left. The buildings were raided by vandals
and looters and the remaining structures were neglected. In 2010 the
Global Heritage Fund listed Ani as being in danger of disappearing
entirely due to insufficient management, neglect and looting and
vandalism by Turks trying to eliminate Armenian history, the Global
Heritage Fund wrote.
Since that time, further efforts have been made to safeguard the
city's future. The most recent archaeological excavations took place
in 2011 and it has become a popular destination for tourists straying
off the beaten path and visiting the eastern border of Turkey.
"When we speak of Ani, we call it an iceberg," said the Kars Culture
and Tourism Director to the Turkish newspaper, Hurriyet Daily News.
"The visible surface is one-tenth of the invisible face of Ani."
View slide show of photos at
http://www.weather.com/travel/crumbling-ruins-city-ani-photos-20140217
From: Baghdasarian