RUINS OF ANNI. 
173 
but highly ornamented friezes ; and other remains of ancient 
magnificence. Several churches, still existing in different parts 
of the place, retain something more than ruins of their former 
dignity ; but they are as solitary as all the other structures, on 
which time and devastation have left more heavy strokes. In 
the western extremity of this great town, in which no living 
beings, except ourselves, seemed breathing, we saw the palace, 
once of the kings of Armenia; and it is a building worthy 
the fame of this old capital. Its length stretches nearly the 
whole breadth, between the walls of the city on one side, and 
the ravine on the other. Indeed, it seems a town in itself; 
and so superbly decorated within and without, that no description 
can give an adequate idea of the variety and richness of the highly 
wrought carvings on the stone, which are all over the building; or 
of the finely-executed mosaic patterns, which beautify the floors 
of its countless halls. Near the centre of the city, rise two 
enormous octagon towers of an immense height, surmounted by 
turrets. They command all around them, even to the citadel, 
which stands to the south-west on a high rock, and at the edge 
of a precipice. The farther I went, and the closer I examined 
the remains of this vast capital, the greater was my admiration 
of its firm and finished masonry. In short, the masterly work¬ 
manship of the capitals of pillars, the nice carvings of the intricate 
ornaments, and arabesque friezes, surpassed any thing of the kind 
I had ever seen, whether abroad, or in the most celebrated cathe¬ 
drals of England. I particularly observed a religious edifice, of less 
dimensions than some of the others, but of exquisite architecture. 
It stood very near the octagon towers ; and its high arched roof 
was a beautiful specimen of mosaic work, enriched with borders 
of the pure Etruscan, formed in red, black, and yellow stone. 
