Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-09-24
AMI. ARMEN|A'S POMPE||,
ONCE A FAMOUS CITY
Now in Ruins and Is in Heart Of
Caucasus Battle
fields.
Strong Fortress in Heyday, But Was
Many Times overrun by
Armed Forces.

"Ani is a remarkable ruined Armenian
city in the heart of the Causasus bat
tlefelds," begins a statement just is
sued by the National Geographic So
ciety Its thick. crumbling walls and
the ragged foundations of it's ancient
buildings, mayhap, have served, since
the outbreak of the great war. as de-
lenses for the Russian or Turkish SOL
diers. Its desolate, decaying outlines
type the Caucacus. the country that
has we'll and fairly earned the name of
the land of fire and sword Ami is the
Armenian Pompeii.
THE ruins lie in a rolling, parched
upland country, almost deserted. They
are near the Alexandropol-Eri rail-
way, little more than thirty miles
south of Alexandropol. and some thir-
ty-five miles from the Russo Ottoman
boundary. There is a steep hill to the
south and east of the stored capital
of the old Armenian kingdom, ana
through a tortuous gorge beside the
dead city flows the Arpa Chat, weird,
bright green river. This is the site of
the last great city of free Armenian
people.
Once Splendid Capital.
"Ani was once a famous. splendid
capital, the city with the LOCI churches,
whose influence extended throughout
the Caucasus and as far as England IN
the west. All that remain of its popu-
lation are an aged Armenian monk,
the director of excavations and the
pleasant host to stray antlquarlans ana
other tourists to places GU: OF the way.
and few Armenian peasants. Before
the war this population lived in peace :
full isolation among the memorials of
their nations former greatness.
"A visitors book was kept by the
monk and it's early entries reach back
many years. The home of the mork,
headquarters and guesthouse of the
dead city, was a one-storied, stone
structure near the cathedral. 1t con-
tanned one large bare and rather dirty
occasional guests. Its four beds con-
stituted it bedroom; its benches made
it into a dining ROOM
Was a Strong Fortress.
THE ancient capital was built upon
promontory out by the Arpa Chat
and a small tributary stream. Across
the third side it's founders had cut "a
ditch, making their city floor raised
platform, which gave it great ad-
vantages for defense in the days be-
fore cannon could hurl their destruc-
ton from the neighboring heights. AM
and it's powerful walls, with their
many towers, are still standing, strung
around the plain. The walls have
largely decayed, however. through the
centuries in which the city has lain
quiet and unpeopled.
Back of the walls, in uneven, inco-
herent distribution, lie the remains OF
churches, palaces and public places
without number, some just the heavy
groundwork, suggesting the old-time
structure, while other buildings sur
vive in high, ragged masonry. The
cathedral stands unbroken, d solitary,
weather-torn edifice, a red and brown
growth out of the red and brown
plain.
1.-The history of the later years OF
the Armenian kingdom is bound up in
the history of Ami. The stronghold
city became the capital of the Bagra :
It'd kings of Armenia in 96l. The BY
zantium emperor captured it in l04b.
and it. was then a hive of many scores
of thousands, a wealthy city and an
inviting one The Seljuk Turks carried
fire and sword throughout its confines
eighteen years later; the warlike Geor-
gians took it five times between l12o
and 1909; the Mongols overran 1t IN
1889 and an earthquake in 1919 COM
Melted the work of ruin. The great ca
thedral. the most perfect survival, was
founded in 1910. just at the beginning
of the city's long chain of misfortunes.