DISCOVERIES
Hope and Despair
In 1878 the Russian Empire
took over the region around
Ani. The discoveries of ex-
plorers like Ker Porter and
Wilbraham formed the basis
for Russian interest in this
site that had been so impor-
tant for eastern Christianity.
In the 1890s Russia backed a
team led by Nikolay Yakov-levich Marr, a Georgian-born
scholar, to excavate the an-
cient city.
The study, begun by Marr,
continued until 1917, and
succeeded in uncovering at
least some of the city’s ma-
jestic past, revealing that a
complex of bridges and roads
once spanned the plunging
ravines over the river.
Armenia, however, con-
tinued to be torn apart by
war as Russia (later, the Sovi-et Union) and Turkey fought
over the lands surrounding
the ruins of Ani. Begun in
1915, the massacre of the Ar-
menian people by the Otto-
man Empire—who believed
the local population had sid-
ed with Russia—wiped out
as many as 1.5 million lives.
Many historians consider it
the world’s first genocide.
For the second half of the
20th century, Ani found it-
self straddling yet anothergeopolitical fault line: this
time, on the frontier between
NATO member Turkey and
Soviet-controlled Armenia.
The location of the site in
Turkey is controversial to
many Armenians. In 2016
the complex of buildings was
placed on UNESCO’s list of
World Heritage sites.
The shattered ruins of
the city, swarmed by armies
through the ages, has al-
ways been a special place for
Armenians. In the wake of
the Armenian Genocide, it
stands as an even more pow-
erful reminder of Armenia’s
losses and of its astonishing
endurance.
—Antonio RattiTHE LIVES OF Jesus and
St. Gregory the Illuminator
are represented in frescoes
inside Ani’s 13th-century
Church of St. Gregory of
Tigran Honents.
IZZET KERIBAR/GETTY IMAGESMarr’s study revealed the scale of Ani’s
sophistication: magnificent churches,
mighty walls, and a complex of bridges.NIKOLAY MARR, A GEORGIAN-BORN ARCHAEOLOGIST, BEGAN
EXCAVATING THE CITY OF ANI IN THE 1890S.
ALAMY/ACI