At the tomb of Ashot III the Merciful, Ani

The photograph shows pupils of a Yerevan church school with their teacher at the tomb of the Armenian king Ashot III the Merciful in Ani, at the beginning of the 20th century.

Eleven men stand around a stepped stone platform. On the left is a church wall with cross-shaped carvings, and behind them a hillside. In the lower right corner the number “1369” is written on a stone.

Ashot III was one of the notable kings of Bagratid Armenia; during his reign Ani became the capital and flourished as a political and cultural centre. The photograph shows the bond of generations with the country's past statehood and recalls a heritage that was later subjected to deliberate destruction.