This prayer house came to light in the 2024 excavation and conservation season at the Ani archaeological site, on the slope south of the cathedral, together with dwellings around it. It is named after the Divin gate, which it stands close to.
Muhammet Arslan, head of the Ani excavation, describes it as the first rock-cut mescit built by Turks in Anatolia. What stands out in it is the pointed-arched mihrab niche on the south, the dome on squinches in front of the mihrab, and the arched lamp niches on the north. It is within the Ani site, at Ocaklı village.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Kars as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from -10.7 °C in January to 17.9 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in July and August; rainfall is heaviest in May (83 mm) and lightest in January (23 mm). Long-term means for 1931-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
