A Diary of Work at Ani: Part I

In August 2011, the Istanbul-based documentation company Solvo-Tek, lead by Mr. Bora Sayin, completed phase 1 of work at the Church of the Savior. Work included documenting the structure and its site using digital photography, terrestrial laser scanning, GPS survey, and digital HDR panoramic photography. The team photographed and scanned the standing remains of the church and the fallen wall sections in-situ before their removal to an area adjacent to the church next spring. Panoramic photographs of the general area were also taken to put the site within the general context of the larger site and its relationship to other structures, such as the neighboring cathedral and the surrounding topography.

First Day

256 kg. This is the total weight of 15 pieces survey equipment we took to Kars for the Surp P’rikitch survey. We landed in Kars Airport at around 3 pm. We checked in the hotel and unloaded our equipment. We wanted to go to the site before dawn and check it before the actual work begins.

We arrived to the site at 5:30 pm. We thought the weather would be warm and nice but it got chilly by 6:30 pm. However we had enough time to check the site and plan for the next day. We hoped that it wouldn’t be as cold as today during the work.