Hidden history of Ani Ruins to come to light

Within the scope of excavation works, efforts will be made to unravel the history of Ani Ruins, also known with the names the City of the World, Cradle of Civilizations, the City of Thousand and One Churches, and City of 40 Gates in history.

Located in the middle of two deep straits of the Arpaçay River, which forms the Turkey-Armenia border, and seized by the Islamic armies in 643 after the rule of the Urartu, Scythian, Persian, Macedonian, Seleukid, Arshakuni, Sassanian and Kamsarakan empires, Ani was ruled by the Bagrationi Dynasty between 884 and 1045, and the Byzantines between 1045 and 1064.

Inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2016, Ani was conquered by Sultan Alparslan on Aug. 16, 1064.

Ani has hosted 23 civilizations since its foundation and is home to many religious buildings such as mosques, churches and cathedrals of different beauty and historical value, as well as other invaluable historical buildings and cultural treasures. It is of particular importance as it is the first gateway to Anatolia from the Caucasus.

Some 25 important structures from Ani have survived to the present day. Among them are walls, mosques, cathedrals, palaces, churches, monasteries, firehouses, baths, bridges and a partially destroyed closed passage.

It sheds light on the past with nearly 1,500 underground structures in 32 regions of five valleys, where a significant portion of the population of Ani lived in the Middle Ages.

The excavation work will begin in June at the ruins in collaboration with the Culture and Tourism Ministry's General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums and the Kafkas University (KAU).

Under the coordination of Muhammet Arslan, the head of Kafkas University's Art History...