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# It is reported that the Armenian Cathedral of the Holy Virgin in Ani, the capital of medieval Bagratid Armenia, in present-day eastern Turkey on the border with Armenia, is to be turned into a mosque
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/soobshchaetsia-chto-armianskii-kafedralnyi-sobor-sviatoi-devy-v-gorode-ani-stolitse-srednevekovoi-bagratidskoi-armenii-na-territorii-sovremennoi-vostochnoi-turtsii-na-granitse-s-armenie/
- Published: 2025-08-28T06:35:39.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:28:56.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Architecture, Faith, The East, Heritage, Society

It is reported that the Armenian Cathedral of the Holy Virgin in Ani, the capital of medieval Bagratid Armenia, in present-day eastern Turkey on the border with Armenia, is to be turned into a mosque. The cathedral has enormous historical and symbolic significance for Armenians.

The thousand-year-old cathedral, on which restoration work was recently begun, was originally promised to be restored as an Armenian church. But after several months it became clear that, once the restoration was complete, the Christian house of worship would become a mosque. At first the workmen said as much, and the hacked-off Christian decorative elements spoke eloquently for themselves; now the official authorities too have confirmed that the celebrated Cathedral of Ani, built in 989-1001, will become a mosque.

Ani was seized by the Seljuks in 1064, and what was then the chief Armenian church was turned into a mosque. Since then the city has passed several times from the Turks into Christian hands and back again, until in 1239 the Mongols took it and put the entire population to the sword, and in 1319 Ani suffered a devastating earthquake. More or less since then the church building has fallen into ever greater decay, and in our own day it has found itself under threat of complete destruction. Restoration work has been under way at the site since the 2010s. Since then, too, interreligious antagonism and political speculation have sharpened here: in response to a Christian service in the church, Muslim prayers began to be held there as well.

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_17735@28-08-2025_09-35-39.jpg)