Though officially considered a museum with ticket only entry, ruins of Ani are unprotected in the face of plundering, according to the head of Armenian Architecture Research Foundation.

As Samvel Karapetyan told a news conference in Yerevan, in 2004-2005, the excavations organized by French archaeologists revealed a vast number of gravestones, some of them carrying Armenian inscriptions.

However, in 2006, the gravestones were broken with the remainders of those entombed taken out of graves, which proves thefts occurred even on the museum territory.

“Rumours are afloat among Western Armenia population, asserting Armenians have left, abandoning their treasures, leaving the territory unprotected in the face of thefts,” Karapetyan said.

A group of experts, led by Karapetyan, visited Ani on July 30, 2011.