Built into the western tip of Ani's defensive walls, this rectilinear palace has been so painstakingly over-restored that it looks quite out of place, though the portal's star-motif red stonework is handsome. Mind your footing inside – a few holes in the floor drop right through into the tall-vaulted dungeons. To explore these safely, start by descending from a double-back path on the exterior of the south side.
The same path, if you don't double back, leads to an intriguing, half-collapsed cave church, the most accessible of many around the Ani gorge.
