The church of St Gregory, an Armenian saint built by a pious and wealthy Armenian, Tigran Honents. This church is also known as the Tigran Honents kilisesi. It is the only church in Ani with any surviving frescoes and this is now the exterior, a huge chunk has broken off. It sits on a little plateau overlooking the Armenian border. If one is in Armenia and is looking from the other side, they would see this area which some Armenians still call Western Armenia. It is one of the few churches in Ani which is still fairly intact, most are mainly rubble. Some mistakingly call this place 'thousand and one churches', the honor actually goes to another area in Turkey near Konya which I will visit next year. In the olden days pious and wealthy people build churches, or donate art work to adorn churches and that is why we have the remains of so many churches. I remember being in Leece, Southern Italy a few years ago, there was a baroque church on every block. Leece is another fascinating place. I digress.
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