The City of 1001 Churches

At the border between Armenia and Turkey, on the Turkish side, there are the ruins of the former Armenian capital Ani, which are more than a thousand years old. A beautiful and at the same time very sad place, I found, because the Armenians are not mentioned at all on the documentation boards for the tourists. At the same time, the city was a vibrant metropolis at that time, which could rival the splendor of Constantinople – after all, it was nicknamed the “City of 1001 Churches”. The largest building was the cathedral, the remains of which still blend imposingly into the hilly grassy landscape.

Ani (Turkey), May 2014