İncir Han
Coordinates: 37 ° 28 ′ 42.9 ″ N , 30 ° 32 ′ 0.4 ″ E
The İncir Han (Turkish İncir Hanı ) is a Seljuk caravanserai south of Burdur in the Turkish province of the same name .
location
The Han is located about five kilometers northwest of the center of Bucak and 35 kilometers southeast of the provincial capital Burdur, three kilometers west of the D-650 highway from Afyonkarahisar via Burdur to Antalya . It is the fourth Han on the old road that connected Antalya via Burdur to Konya , the capital of the Sultanate of the Rum Seljuks . In front of it are Evdir Han , Kırkgöz Han and Susuz Han .
Building history
The caravanserai was built in 1238–1239 according to the building inscription above the main portal of the covered part. The Seljuk Sultan Giyaseddin Keyhüsrev II (ruled 1237–1246) is named as the builder . He is given numerous honorary titles in the inscription, including "great king of kings", "ruler over the bowed heads of the people", "lord of the sultans of the Arabs and non-Arabs", "sultan of the land and the two seas" as well "Second Alexander the Great". The latter title in particular is very unusual and has not been proven otherwise. From 1992 to 2000 RH Unal and the Burdur Archaeological Museum undertook excavations which uncovered and identified the foundations of the open forecourt.
construction
The Han consists of an open and a closed part, whereby the closed part with 29 × 36 meters is slightly smaller than the open forecourt with 31 × 36 meters. The building is oriented from northwest to southeast, the entrance is in the southeast. The open part was completely buried by sediments that were washed down from the eastern Kocadağ, but the ruins were exposed during excavations in the 1990s. The forecourt could be entered through a portal in the south with an ivan . There were two rooms on either side of the portal, of which the eastern one was probably the quarter of the Han administrator. Seven identical rooms, probably with barrel vaults , opened up on the courtyard along the eastern outer wall . Remains of a row of arcades were found on the opposite side , behind which seven open rooms lay, which in turn were separated from each other by arched walls. They were covered by pointed arches that opened onto the courtyard.
The covered part is entered from the courtyard via another portal that is in the same axis as the entrance to the courtyard. The interior has a higher central nave in north-south direction with two aisles on the right and left. In the transverse direction, the space is divided into seven aisles. In the fourth transept, the building was probably crowned by a central dome, of which nothing has survived, however, as the barrel vault of the central nave has partially collapsed. In addition to acceptable windows in the dome, the interior was illuminated by seven slotted windows each in the longitudinal walls and one in the rear wall. The outer walls are reinforced by eight towers, two each on the outer walls and two on the northern corners. The towers have different shapes, from square to polygonal to round.
The upper part of the richly decorated portal has been almost completely lost. It is framed by several borders with different floral and geometric patterns. The ivan is covered by a shell-like arch that rests on two columns with capitals made of double-row acanthus leaves . Above the capitals there is a rosette made of palmettes and lotus leaves with an octagonal star in the middle. The well-preserved building inscription is located above the door. In the right door frame another, incomplete inscription can be seen with the meaning: "The steward of this blessed Hans is ..." To the right and left of the portal two lions can be seen in high relief at the lower ends of the vaulted arch, above the back a solar disk with a human figure Face. The lion and the sun are known as the sultan's coat of arms symbol and also appear on Seljuk coins from his reign.
Building inscription
Inscription in the door frame
left lion
rosette
Web links
- The Seljuk Han of Anatolia - Incir Han (English)
- Histolia.de - Incir Han (German)
- Islamansiklopedisi - İncir Hanı (Turkish)