The Church of the Redeemer is one of the most visually striking monuments at Ani and one of the most memorable ruins anywhere in Turkey. Built in the early 11th century as a rotunda church on an unusual circular plan, it was struck by lightning and split vertically, leaving precisely half the building standing — walls, decorative carvings, and all — while the other half has collapsed entirely.
The exposed cross-section reveals the construction technique: the outer and inner stone skins of the wall with a rubble core between them, typical of high Armenian masonry. The surviving half stands about 15 metres high with carved niches and pilasters still intact. The building gets its name from a fragment of the True Cross reputedly brought from Constantinople and installed in a reliquary here. Combined with the Cathedral and the Church of St Gregory, it forms part of the essential circuit of Ani's major religious monuments.