Note 96 — Chapter XVIII · ANI, AND THE ARMENIAN KINGDOM OF THE MIDDLE AGES
Reading edition
The interior of the building which forms the subject of my illustration is given by Brosset in plate xiv. of the Atlas to the Ruines d’Ani. The detail and ornament there portrayed do not correspond with reality. The devils are more or less imaginary, and there appears to be only one of them in the actual design, viz. on the south wall, the first pilaster as you enter from the west—in low relief. Brosset styles this interior “a hall in the citadel”; but the following considerations are against this view:—1. It is oriented east; 2. It obviously had an apse; 3. Above the apse you see the form of a cross sculptured on the face of the arch which still remains.
The bas-reliefs are given by Brosset, plates xxxv. and xxxvii. The former (representing the archer) was found in the valley of the Tsaghkotz with an inscription in Armenian, “Christ have pity on the lady Shushan, thy servant.” This personage may be identified with the wife of the Pahlavid Grigor, mother of Vahram. ↑