TURQUIE
The Ancient Ghost City of Ani

Situated on the eastern border of Turkey, across the Akhourian River
from Armenia, lies the empty, crumbling site of the once-great
metropolis of Ani, known as “the city of a thousand and one churches.”
Founded more than 1,600 years ago, Ani was situated on several trade
routes, and grew to become a walled city of more than 100,000
residents by the 11th century. In the centuries that followed, Ani and
the surrounding region were conquered hundreds of times — Byzantine
emperors, Ottoman Turks, Armenians, nomadic Kurds, Georgians, and
Russians claimed and reclaimed the area, repeatedly attacking and
chasing out residents. By the 1300s, Ani was in steep decline, and it
was completely abandoned by the 1700s. Rediscovered and romanticized
in the 19th century, the city had a brief moment of fame, only to be
closed off by World War I and the later events of the Armenian
Genocide that left the region an empty, militarized no-man’s land. The
ruins crumbled at the hands of many : looters, vandals, Turks who
tried to eliminate Armenian history from the area, clumsy
archaeological digs, well-intentioned people who made poor attempts at
restoration, and Mother Nature herself. Restrictions on travel to Ani
have eased in the past decade, allowing the following photos to be
taken.

The Ancient Ghost City of Ani

dimanche 16 février 2014,
Stéphane (c)armenews.com

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress