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The Koza Han () is a historic
caravanserai A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was a roadside inn where travelers ( caravaners) could rest and recover from the day's journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information and people across the network of trade routes covering ...
(''han'') in
Bursa ( grc-gre, Προῦσα, Proûsa, Latin: Prusa, ota, بورسه, Arabic:بورصة) is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the ...
,
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...
. It is located in the heart of the city's historic market district.


History

Bursa, the first capital of the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...
, was also its center of
silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from th ...
production and trade. Particularly in the 14th to 16th centuries, a large number of commercial structures such as ''han''s (caravanserais),
bazaars A bazaar () or souk (; also transliterated as souq) is a marketplace consisting of multiple small stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, North Africa and India. However, temporary open markets elsewhere, such as in t ...
(covered markets), and a ''
bedesten A bedesten (variants: bezistan, bezisten, bedestan) is a type of covered market or market hall which was historically found in the cities of the Ottoman Empire. It was typically the central building of the commercial district of an Ottoman town or ...
'' were built in the city center, forming a major zone of economic activity. (At least 13 of these structures have survived today despite numerous earthquakes.) It is here, next to the old Orhan Gazi Mosque, that Sultan
Bayezid II Bayezid II ( ota, بايزيد ثانى, Bāyezīd-i s̱ānī, 3 December 1447 – 26 May 1512, Turkish: ''II. Bayezid'') was the eldest son and successor of Mehmed II, ruling as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1481 to 1512. During his reign, B ...
ordered the construction of the Koza Han in February or March of 1490. The architect was a man named Abdul Ula Bin Pulad Shah, and the building opened in September 1491. Through the ''
waqf A waqf ( ar, وَقْف; ), also known as hubous () or '' mortmain'' property is an inalienable charitable endowment under Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot of land or other assets for Muslim religious or charitab ...
'' system, the revenues of the ''han'' were earmarked to finance the upkeep of Bayezid's mosque complex in Istanbul. As a caravanserai, the ''han'' provided lodging for foreign merchants, storage for their animals and goods, housing for the workshops of craftsmen, and/or offices for conducting business. The Koza Han was one of the largest and most important examples in Bursa. In the early 16th century the commercial agent of the Medicis of
Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...
had his office in this building. It continued to be a center of silk trade throughout its history, with expensive silk shops still present in the building today, although the industry is no longer as prominent as it once was. In addition to silk textiles, its trade also included the production and sale of silk cocoons themselves (hence its name). The ''han'' has also undergone numerous restorations and repairs, including in 1630, 1671 and 1784. The small mosque at its center was most recently restored in 1946 and in 2007.
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
visited the ''han'' in the company of Turkish President
Abdullah Gül Abdullah Gül (; ; born 29 October 1950) is a Turkish politician who served as the 11th President of Turkey, in office from 2007 to 2014. He previously served for four months as Prime Minister from 2002 to 2003, and concurrently served as bo ...
in 2008. Today the ''han'' also contains cafés and tea gardens.


Architecture

The ''han'' is built in alternating layers of brick and stone, which forms part of the decorative visual effect of its exterior. Like most typical caravanserais, it has a rectangular floor plan with a large central courtyard measuring 45.9 by 37.5 metres. Around the courtyard runs a two-story gallery that gives access to small vaulted rooms that ring the complex. The ground floor contains 50 rooms and the upper floor has 54 rooms. At the center of the courtyard is a small octagonal stone mosque or prayer room (''mescit'') which is raised above the ground on 8 pillars and reached by a marble staircase. The reason for this elevation was to make sure the mosque was not soiled by pack animals which were kept by merchants on the ground floor. Under the mosque, at ground level, is a fountain and washing area for ritual ablutions. The ''han'' is entered via a monumental stone and brick portal that projects from the rest of the building's façade. The portal is decorated with a spiral moulding along its edges, as well as with geometric patterns made of inset coloured
tile Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, walls, edges, or ...
on the
spandrels A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...
above the archway.


References


External links


Kozahan official site
(in Turkish; includes galleries of pictures) {{Ottoman architecture Caravanserais in Turkey Buildings and structures in Bursa Ottoman architecture in Bursa