Ertokuş Han
Coordinates: 37 ° 59 ′ 34 ″ N , 30 ° 58 ′ 15 ″ E
The Ertokuş Han is a Seljuk caravanserai on the eastern bank of Lake Eğirdir in the Turkish province of Isparta in Anatolia .
location
Ertokuş Han is located in the area of Yeşilköy municipality in Gelendost county , between the D 350 road from Isparta to Konya and the shore of Lake Eğirdir; the Han is about a hundred meters away from the lake. When it was built, it was on the important trade route from Antalya to Afyon and Konya. The Han is now a bit hidden: Coming from the north, turn left on the D350 after the mosque (Yeşilköy Cami) on the road into the first dirt road. The very bad path ends after about three hundred meters before the caravanserai. Coming from the south, after the petrol station on the right, turn left onto the dirt road. The Han can only be viewed from the outside, the interior was closed after the renovation due to vandalism. A key can be obtained from the farm opposite.
Surname
The Ertokuş Han bears the name of its founder, Mübarüziddin Ömer Ertokuş, an important Atabeg and emir in the service of the Seljuk Sultan Kai Kobad I (Turkish: Alaeddin Keykubad ). Over time, the names Gelendost Han (after the next largest city), Selçuk Han and Kudret Han were used.
history
The construction was carried out on behalf of the Seljuk sultan Kai Kobad I .; the Emir and Atabey Mübarüziddin Ömer Ertokuş acted as the builder for the Han, which began in 1223 and was completed in 1224. Over the centuries, the route from Antalya to Afyon lost its importance and the caravanserai gradually fell into disrepair. Since the Han was away from settlements, he was spared the fate of serving as a quarry for other buildings (as happened, for example, with the Eğirdir-Han ).
By the 1950s the Han was in very bad shape and the first security measures were taken. A general renovation began in 2007 and lasted until 2017. The Han was completely renovated; however, the interior has been closed since then.
architecture
The Han consists of two interconnected structures, the “summer courtyard” and the “winter hall”. The caravanserai is oriented from south to north and lies parallel to the lake shore, which is about a hundred meters away. The entrance is to the south and is surrounded by a square (15 meters) forecourt paved with smooth stones. The summer building is approximately 24 meters wide and 34 meters long. Next to the entrance gate there are two separate rooms on the right and left, each about twenty square meters. The room to the right of the gate is believed to be a prayer room, as it contains a narrow window; however, no signs of religious use, such as a mihrāb (prayer niche), were found. On the left in the goal area is a half-open anteroom and behind it a smaller room. A hamam is suspected here, but there is no evidence for it, such as a water reservoir. Behind the gate opens the thirty-meter-long and eight-meter-wide inner courtyard, which ends at the inner gate of the winter hall. To the right and left of the courtyard are four dormitories, the barrel vaults of which are supported on each side by three columns, but the vault is no longer original.
Above the entrance to the winter hall there is a marble plaque with the Arabic inscription. The German translation reads: This building, which belongs to the Sultan, was built by Mübarüziddin Ertokuş Ömer for the cause of Allah in the year 620 after the Hijra .
The winter hall is directly connected to the summer courtyard and consists of a 27 meter long, barrel vaulted hall supported by eight columns. The original columns came from Byzantine times and were brought to the museum in Isparta during the renovation.
The outer walls, which are up to 1.5 meters thick, consist of two hewn limestone walls that have been filled with rubble and mortar inside. The Han has no decorations or spoils , and there is no typical Seljuk muqarna decoration. Only the entrance portal is clad with white marble slabs.
See also
Photo gallery
South side with portal
western wall
Southwest side
Wall of the winter hall
Looking east
Looking west to Lake Egirdir
Forecourt
literature
- Kurt Erdmann : The Anatolian Karavansaray of the 13th century . Berlin 1961.
- Şaman Doğan: Selçuklu Döneminde Siyasi ve Bani Kimliği ile Mübarizeddin Ertokuş ( The political and sovereign work of Mübarizeddin Ertokuş in the Seljuks period. ) Ankara 2010
.
- Stephen Hill (Ed.): Gertrude Bell 1868-1926: Selection from the Photographic Archive of an Archaeologist and Traveler . London 1976, ISBN 978-0-905423-00-5 .
