Covering the large rocky eminence at the southern point of the Ani plateau, İç Kale is a jumble of tumbled stone, with faint vestiges of ancient palaces and walls that date back at least 1500 years – possibly even to Urartian times (8th century BC). Crowning its central hilltop is Ani's oldest church, dating from 622. It is curiously shattered in that the northern half looks fairly intact but the southern section has dropped away entirely.
Lower down to the southwest, but within İç Kale's walls, is a great viewpoint from which to distantly admire a picturesquely perched but out-of-bounds red-stone church that is almost all that remains of Kız Kalesi – a former fortress on a cliff-sided peninsula high above a curl of the Arpaçay Canyon.
