Balkan Travellers has a wonderful article on the ancient Armenian city of Ani, today in Turkish territory, attempting to explain in words a world that can only be experienced:

We pass by Ocakli, the last Turkish village before the border with Armenia. The mythical Armenian capital Ani, which at the end of the ninth century outshined Constantinople, Cairo, and Baghdad with its splendour, lies somewhere before us. Chronicles called it “City of 1,001 Churches” and a replica of Istanbul’s Saint Sophia used to stand in its centre.

[...]

ow only a few tumbledown churches, some sections of a castle and Marco Polo’s bridge remain from what used to be a magnificent city. In some places the double city wall rises and culminates in turrets of various shapes and heights, in others it goes down, sometimes completely disappearing in the tall grass.

We take a broad dusty road, which meanders between the ruins.

Armenian architecture is one of civilization’s greatest enigmas. It has its own unique appearance, but more importantly – it forms the basis of a popular European medieval phenomenon, known as Gothic style. According to Joseph Strzygowski, who wrote in the early twentieth century, Armenian engineers were the first to devise a way to put a round dome over a square space. They did this in two ways: either by transforming the square into a triangle or by building an octagonal structure to hold the dome. Their architectural genius resulted in stunningly beautiful buildings.

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Two years and a month after the destruction of Djulfa, we are announcing the Djulfa Virtual Memorial and Museum.  Here is the first official press release with special thanks to Armen Hovhannisyan from www.Hayastan.com:  

Aimed at spreading awareness about cultural cleansing in the Republic of Azerbaijan, a project to document the deliberate destruction of the world’s largest medieval Armenian archaeological site has been launched online.

The Djulfa Virtual Memorial and Museum (www.djulfa.com), announced in January of 2008, claims to be the foremost online resource on the medieval cemetery in old Djulfa (Jugha in Armenian), which was reduced to dust in December of 2005 by a contingent of Azerbaijan’s army. The destruction, videotaped by a film crew at the Iranian-Azerbaijani border, and condemned by the European Parliament, has been denied as “slanderous information” by officials in Azerbaijan.

The newly launched project includes film and reference material on the history and destruction of the Djulfa cemetery. The Photo section features a number of previously unpublished images of the cemetery taken by French-Lithuanian art critique Jurgis Baltrusaitis, who visited the site in 1928. A publication co-authored by Baltrusaitis has also been digitalized and posted on the website.

The Djulfa Virtual Memorial and Museum is maintained by volunteer staff and an advisory board. Learn about the annihilated sacred stones at www.djulfa.com.

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Afghanistan’s famed Bamiyan Buddhas, reduced to dust by the Taliban in 2001, may be returning in a few years.

Japanese artist Hiro Yamagata, according to Bamiyan Laser, is working on a project that in June of 2012 will display Buddha images at the site where the sacred monuments were destroyed by Islamic militants.

According to Yamagata’s website:

Over 250 laser systems installed 500m,1km and 5km in distance from the Bamiyan hills will project multiple layers of original Yamagata Buddha images drawn in striking colors.
The laser images will be projected for 1 hour after sundown, 6 days without friday.
The laser systems built specifically for this installation will shoot long range green beams and short range multiple color beams, designed to create a striking contrast to the purplish red hue of the Bamiyan sunset and the black mountain shadows.

The energy used by the laser systems will be produced by environmental friendly windmills and solar power plants. The power produced is also meant to provide light and electricity for the people of Bamiyan.

Although the Buddhas will be visible only at certain times of the year, the project is said to be sustainable and permanent:

The original Bamiyan Buddhas were created approximately 1500 years ago, as one of the most significant historical monuments of mankind. 

My artistic concept is to create original images of Buddha and project them with the most unique,powerful and cutting edge laser technology of today onto the site where once the ancient Bamiyan Buddhas stood.  Thus we will be able to revive the great creative spirit of mankind which produced the Great Buddha of Bamiyan centuries ago. A collaboration of ancient and new art will become a cultural icon of revived civilization in Afghanistan.
By permanently creating an artwork of laser system installation in Bamiyan, we intend to stimulate both the land and the people of Bamiyan.

But instead of the handful Buddha statues destroyed by the Taliban, the laser project will have 160-240 Buddhas.  The figure gives hope that destroyed historic sites with hundreds of monuments can be “recreated” through laser imaging as well.  A similar project could be put together to memorialize the largest medieval Armenian cemetery reduced to dust in Azerbaijan in 2005.

What about “recreating” the New York Twin Towers with laser?

Image: UNESCO delegates looking at a new Azerbaijani military camp in September of 2007 where the Djulfa cemetery existed before December of 2005.  This site could become the world’s largest laser-powered museum with thousands of recreated tombstones

The cemetery should be recreated - whether on Azeri or Armenian territory - before the 10th anniversary of the destruction of Djulfa.  So there is much work to do until 2015.  Interestingly, that is also the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.  History repeats?

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A newly discovered Armenian cemetery in Iran dating to the 13th century predates a famous UNESCO site it was found around.

BBC Image: Situated in the province of Zanjan, Soltaniyeh is often cited as one of the crowning achievements of Persian architecture.

According to the Cultural Heritage News Agency:

Discovery of an Armenian written gravestone within the sphere of Soltanieh dome lead to the discovery of a graveyard of Armenians from the Mongolian era by experts of CHTO and Armenian archeologists.

The result of researches revealed the fact that this gravestone is related to Mongolian time, and there is a strong existence possibility of a graveyard near the mentioned sphere.

According to Ghorban Zadeh, discovery of this Armenian graveyard near Abbas Abaad can help to discover the true history of Soltanieh dome.

Built between 1304 and 1313, Soltanieh (or Sultanieh) is Iran’s largest archaeological site. “It is also the world’s third-largest historical site proceeded by Italy’s Santa Maria Delfiore of Florence and Turkey’s Saint Sufia Mosque, of Istanbul.” 

According to Press TV, the tombstone that led to the discovery of the Armenian connection read:

“Jesus, the only born to Father, when the time arrives and you return the sleeping soul of the decedent …”

The rest of the inscription which dates back to the Mongolian age (1206-1405) was not legible.

Historical evidence suggests that Sorghaghtani Beki, wife of Tolui Khan and mother of Hulagu Khan, the Mogul ruler, was a Christian woman.

The inscription on the tombstone strengthened the case for the existence of such hallowed site for Armenian residents of the time.

Soltaniyeh was the capital of the Ilkhanid rulers of Persia in the 14th century.

While native Armenian cemeteries are reduced to dust by the state authorities in Iran’s neighboring Azerbaijan, the Islamic Republic instead uses every opportunity - and archaeologists wouldn’t complain - to advertise its tolerance toward Christianity by promoting restoration and discovery of Armenian sites and churches.

A list of Christian churches in Iran can be found here.

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