Ani Archaeological Site

The Ani Archaeological Site, located within the borders of Kars Province, is a multicultural Silk Road settlement where habitation continued from the Early Iron Age until the 16th century. It displays the full richness and diversity of medieval urbanism, architecture, and art. Ani Archaeological Site is a 78-hectare plateau surrounded by 4500 meters of walls. The region experienced its brightest period in the 10th and 11th centuries, as cathedrals, palaces, churches, markets and bridges were built.The settlement that began in the 4th century in the Inner Castle (İçkale) is significant for documenting the region’s first transition from a closed city model to an open city model. Its location on major trade routes led to its development as a multicultural commercial center over time, making it a meeting point of Armenian, Georgian, Eastern Roman, and Seljuk cultures. The architectural design ideas, construction materials and techniques, and decorative details resulting from this cultural interaction gave rise to an architectural language unique to Ani, which later spread throughout Anatolia and the Caucasus, producing distinctive architectural monuments within a continuously evolving urban landscape. With these features, the Ani Archaeological Site was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2016.