Church dedicated to Gregory the Illuminator, evangelizer of Armenia, in Ani (today in Turkey), forgotten capital of medieval Armenia • ISTOCKPHOTO The medieval chronicles of the Near East called it, because of its size, the city "of the thousand and one churches" or "of the forty doors". His fame reached the most remote places. Those who had the opportunity to visit it at the height of its splendor, between the X th and the XIII th century, declared that it rivaled in beauty the contemporary capitals of the Orient:Baghdad, Cairo and Constantinople. Ani, the most precious jewel of the powerful Armenian kingdom of Bagratids, which at that time controlled much of eastern Anatolia, had been chosen as a residence by the great king Ashot III (953-977). Wishing to meet its requirements, architects developed styles that still amaze today with their ability to get ahead of the times. Marco Polo goes there Indeed, many art scholars seek to understand how the central nave of the imposing Surp Asdvadzadzin (Holy Mother of God) Cathedral, erected at the end of the 10th th century, may rest on columns identical to those later erected in the Gothic cathedrals of Europe. But that's not the only enigma Ani holds. Its location on the maps is another:an inhospitable, windswept high plateau, at the center of a road network that only functioned while the flourishing kingdom existed. At this place, as some travelers remember – including Marco Polo, who left a quick description of the place – passed one of the many branches of the Silk Road. It made it a rich and prosperous city, but also signed its doom. When the Byzantine army conquered the city in 1045, ending Armenian independence, Ani began a slow but inexorable decline. When the Byzantine army conquered the city in 1045, ending Armenian independence, Ani began a slow but inexorable decline. Unable to cope with the ambitions of its powerful neighbours, the city changed hands several times. These events provoked terrible sieges and bloody looting, such as that of the Seljuks, who subjugated it in 1064. However, it was the Mongols who, in the 13 th century, dealt him the coup de grace. Besieged and conquered, Ani ended up being depopulated. Once removed from all communication routes, the city had no reason to exist or to prosper. Her memory faded and her beauty faded, until only her legend survived. Earthquakes, looting and an inhospitable climate have inevitably contributed to degrading it. The first excavations Between the 17 th and the 19 th century, when the first Western explorers appeared in the region, Ani had long since lost even its name. During this period, the region was the center of endless territorial disputes between the Ottoman, Persian and Russian empires, and anyone who ventured there was putting their life in danger. No excavation was therefore carried out in the former Armenian capital, which was only the subject of hasty inspections, even if these aroused great interest among specialists. The British painter and traveler Robert Porter said in 1817:"On entering the city, I found the whole surface of the ground covered with unearthed stones, broken capitals, columns, friezes destroyed, but well decorated, and other vestiges of an ancient magnificence. It was obvious that this desert plateau was home to a real artistic treasure. The halo of mystery that surrounded Ani remained intact until the end of the 19 th century. Russia, under whose control the region was, then sent a mission there led by archaeologist Nikolai Marr. The study campaigns last until 1917, in the midst of the First World War, and reveal in part the sumptuous past of the city. The site is excavated for the first time, and the buildings still standing are restored. Its secrets have been partly revealed:magnificent Armenian churches with their precious frescoes coexisted with later mosques, the fruit of successive Islamic dominations. The remains of an ancient Zoroastrian temple have also been unearthed, evidence of Armenian worship prior to the conversion to Christianity. The building that has left archaeologists speechless is the Sainte-Mère-de-Dieu Cathedral, completed in 1001 by the famous architect Tiridates, with its cruciform plan and its imposing dome. But the building that has left archaeologists speechless is the Holy Mother of God Cathedral, completed in 1001 by the famous Armenian architect Tiridates, with its cruciform plan and its imposing dome, which collapsed during the earthquake of land of 1319. But the Turkish army reconquers the region in 1918, and an iconoclastic and destructive fury descends on Ani, marking the beginning of a new period of oblivion. During the 1980s, the region became one of the most impenetrable borders in the world, where the Soviet Union, heir to the Russian Empire, faced NATO and its Turkish ally. The former Armenian capital was no man's land again, surrounded by miles of barbed wire and minefields, and sacrificed to the logic of the Cold War until the mid-1990s. Access finally authorized After the dissolution of the USSR, things slowly began to change. If today Ani is no longer impenetrable, it remains a place located on a delicate border, between two nations – Turkey and Armenia – divided by a tragic past. To get there, you have to reach the sleepy Kars, in northeastern Turkey, and travel tens of kilometers along a monotonous road that crosses an arid and windy plateau, on which you do not meet a living soul. . To get to Ani today, you have to reach sleepy Kars, in northeastern Turkey, and travel tens of kilometers along a monotonous road that crosses an arid and windy plateau. After passing the majestic red stone walls, still in good condition, you arrive on a vast plateau covered with ruins overgrown with brush and shrubs. Only the most monumental structures, in precarious conservation conditions, appear here and there, solitary. Then, suddenly, the landscape changes:the land plunges for hundreds of meters towards a canyon in which flows the Akhourian, a tributary of the Araxes river which marks the limits of the city, until reaching the hill where, at V e century, stood a solitary fortress. In the basement of the plateau on which the city rises, hundreds of tunnels intersect, with houses and temples that are proof of very ancient cults:an underground city that has not yet been explored. The inclusion of Ani on the World Heritage List in 2016 should over time promote the preservation and study of this extraordinary place. Timeline 961 Achot III made Ani the capital of the Kingdom of Armenia. The city becomes one of the most beautiful in the East.1020 After the death of Gagik, Ani is at the height of his glory. The Byzantine conquest of 1045 led to a slow decline.1226-1239 The destructive fury of the Mongols descends on the city. Ani will not recover and will end up depopulating.1904-1917 The excavation campaigns of the Russian Nikolai Marr reveal for the first time the riches of Ani. When one city hides another In Ani's basement unfolds a largely unknown network, in which one enters by various open accesses in the walls of the canyon which surrounds the city. Russian archaeologist Nikolai Marr, the only one to have explored it to date, has located hundreds of rooms in this underground world.
