Inside the Cathedral of Ani

The Cathedral of the Holy Mother of God in Ani is the Armenian cathedral of Ani, the capital of medieval Bagratid Armenia, which lies today in eastern Turkey, on the border with Armenia. It was built in 989–1001 to a design by Trdat, the court architect of the Bagratids.

In 1064, when the Seljuks captured Ani, the cathedral was turned into a mosque; later it again became an Armenian church. In the earthquake of 1319 its conical dome collapsed, after which Ani gradually became deserted and the church fell into decay. The cathedral is considered the largest and most impressive building of Ani and for almost half a century was the seat of the Catholicos, head of the Armenian Apostolic Church. In 2016 it was inscribed, together with the whole city, on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Today only the ruins of the building survive.

The photograph shows the interior of the cathedral, with tall pointed arches, walls built of dark and reddish stone, and round and narrow elongated windows. Below, near a bright doorway, a person is walking.