The Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation, U.S. Department of State, will provide $625,000 to the World Monuments Fund for the conservation of the remains of the 11th-century Surp Prikitch (Church of the Holy Redeemer) at the medieval Armenian site of Ani in eastern Turkey.

The church was built in 1036, and was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1996.

After three-year-long talks, the Turkish Ministry of Culture decided in favor of installation of a cross on the Surb Khach church on Akhtamar Island. The first religious service will be held there this September.