Ministry of Culture and Tourism has begun the renovations of the Ani Ruins. It has plans to showcase the area to the world more efficiently. The Tigran Honents church and The Ebul Menucehr Mosque will have a face lift.
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has started renovation work on the Ani Ruins in the Eastern Anatolian city of Kars, while trying to figure out a quick solution for the quarries on the Armenian side of the border that threaten the historic ruins.
The Tigran Honents church in the area will have drainage dug around its walls and its surroundings will be cleaned. The original floor of the entrance will be surfaced.
The Ebul Menucehr Mosque will have its roof cleaned in order to make the original overlay visible. Maintenance to its minaret has already been carried out and earth in the ground floor rooms was removed. The mosque's floor is also being renovated after the detachment of the cement laid earlier.
Also, work is in progress for the structural fortification of Seljuk Palace's as well as surveying, restitution and renovation of the churches of Ebulhamrent and Prikitch. The ministry has new plans to publicize the area to the world more efficiently. A nearby village, Ocakli, will be undergirding for cultural and socio-economic development. Besides that, training programs will be arranged for the local community with aims of better preservation of historical buildings.
International symposiums, photography exhibitions, increasing the number of publicity brochures and billboards, manufacturing souvenirs and producing written and visual media products are being planned on for the upcoming years to attract more tourists to the ruins.
Open air museum
The ministry will form a center for research, documentation and publicity and create a data bank for research. The team from the Global Heritage Fund is working on some of the monumental buildings' and the rampart's three dimensional modeling. The west and northwest fronts of the cathedral are being reinforced in collaboration with the Sorbonne University of Paris and the World Monuments Fund has joined the project.
Quarries in Armenia
Orhan Duzgun, director general of cultural assets, said a board of project coordination and consultancy was formed for Ani and it has prepared a report and a plan of action on the subject.
Duzgun said the matter of the Armenian quarries' negative effects on historical artifacts is among the short term subjects. The report said the quarries enlarge day by day, splitting the topography and also damaging the spectacular natural landscape.
It is demanded by the report that the matter will be carried to international arenas and the quarries must be stopped.
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