Guide
The Seljuk tomb tower and cemetery lie within the Ani archaeological site, thirty metres northwest of the Fethiye Mosque, the former cathedral, looking over the Arpaçay. The cemetery is thought to have been established with the Seljuk conquest of 1064, and the tomb tower in it was brought to light only recently, by the excavations of 2021-2022.
The tower has an octagonal body on a square base, with the entrance at its northeast corner. Around it are graves of two kinds, those with cenotaphs and the chamber graves known as the akit type. The excavation directorate describes this as the first Turkish-Islamic tomb tower and cemetery in Anatolia, and, because it lies in the courtyard of the Fethiye Mosque, as the first burial enclosure of its kind in Anatolia as well.
