{"id":707,"date":"2010-08-17T16:04:53","date_gmt":"2010-08-17T20:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/?p=707"},"modified":"2015-02-14T13:48:14","modified_gmt":"2015-02-14T18:48:14","slug":"the-ancient-kingdom-of-ani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/?p=707","title":{"rendered":"The Ancient Kingdom of Ani"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Massive Wall Around Ancient Ani<\/span><\/p>\n

Later in the day, on August 17th we finally went to Ani.\u00a0 This was something that everyone was looking forward to.\u00a0 It was a very hot and sunny afternoon.\u00a0 We had dropped off our luggage at the Grand Ani Hotel and Selcuk drove the van through the dry barren landscape for the 20 minute ride to the ancient Armenian city of Ani.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Ani is located in the Turkish province of Kars across the border of the current Republic of Armenia.\u00a0 Ani was once the capital of a great medieval Armenian kingdom.\u00a0 It was one of the major cities along the ancient Silk Road and various other trade routes crossed through the city.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Main Path Through the Ancient Kingdom<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

King Ashot III chose Ani for the site of his capital in 961 AD.\u00a0 Successive kings built a citadel, great churches, and monasteries within mighty city walls at the edge of the deep river gorge.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>One of the Many Churches<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Ani had been called the “City of 1001 Churches”. It’s many religious buildings, palaces, and fortifications were among the most technically and artistically advanced structures in the world, at that time. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Church Near the Armenian Border<\/span><\/p>\n

At the height of its glory, Ani had a population of between 100,000 to 200,000 people and was the rival of Constantinople, Baghdad, and Cairo.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Border Between Turkey and Armenia<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Ani flourished for less that a century before being conquered in 1045 by the Byzantines, then by the Seljuks in 1064, followed by the kings of Georgia, and then various Kurdish emirs.\u00a0 In 1239, the Mongols swept in, and finally in 1319 a strong earthquake cleared out the Mongols.\u00a0 Ani has been in ruins ever since.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>FRUSA Cousins & the Zeronians<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Many of Ani’s churches survived the earthquake and have lasted through the centuries.\u00a0 Some people say that the ruins of the churches seem to “float on a sea of grass above the collapsed rubble of the rest of the city.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Armenian Chapel<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

We walked through the huge gateway in the massive stone wall and were awestruck!\u00a0 Original paths lead visitors to the ruins of the buildings.\u00a0 Adequate signs give information about the former structures. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Ruins of a Building<\/span><\/p>\n

We walked around the entire ancient city for several hours.\u00a0 I cannot describe every building here, but have included a few of my photos.\u00a0 There are books and articles written for readers who want more information about the ancient city of Ani.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Ancient Kingdom of Ani<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Massive Wall Around Ancient Ani Later in the day, on August 17th we finally went to Ani.\u00a0 This was something that everyone was looking forward to.\u00a0 It was a very hot and sunny afternoon.\u00a0 We had dropped off our luggage at the Grand Ani Hotel and Selcuk drove the van through the dry barren landscape […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,7,5,3,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anatolia","category-armenian","category-family","category-travel","category-turkey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=707"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1415,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707\/revisions\/1415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}