Saint Hakob Monastery of Hajin in 1915 and 2021

The image shows the tragic fate of the Armenian Monastery of Saint Hakob (Surb Hakob) in Cilicia. The monastery was founded in the 11th century in Hajin (now the Turkish town of Saimbeyli) and was one of the many Armenian spiritual and cultural centres of Cilicia. In the Middle Ages Cilicia was the centre of an independent Armenian state, the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia.

The upper photograph, marked “1915”, shows the monastery before the Armenian Genocide: large two-storey buildings, a structure with three arches on the ground floor, and a large group of people walking in a long line along the slope. The lower photograph, marked “2021”, shows the ruins of the monastery: stone walls and three arches, with the town in the distance.

The contrast between the two photographs shows the loss of Armenian cultural and religious heritage on the territory of present-day Turkey.