Taşhanlar is a partly ruined historic

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 o ...

, a covered bazaar complex, located in

Şebinkarahisar Şebinkarahisar is a town in Giresun Province in the Black Sea region of northeastern Turkey. It is the administrative seat of Şebinkarahisar District.

district of

Giresun Province Giresun Province (Greek language, Greek : Κερασούντα, ; ) is a Provinces of Turkey, province of Turkey on the Black Sea coast. Its adjacent provinces are Trabzon Province, Trabzon to the east, Gümüşhane Province, Gümüşhane to the ...

, northern Turkey. Taşhanlar, plural of , which means literally "stone inn or covered bazaar", is a

building complex. It is located on the northern foothill of the

Şebinkarahisar Castle Şebinkarahisar Castle () is a fortification in Şebinkarahisar district of Giresun Province, northern Turkey. Şebinkarahisar Castle is located atop of a -high hill named Hacikayası southeast of Şebinkarahisar town in Giresun Province, norther ...

, on both sides of the road to Orta neighborhood of

Şebinkarahisar Şebinkarahisar is a town in Giresun Province in the Black Sea region of northeastern Turkey. It is the administrative seat of Şebinkarahisar District.

, northern Turkey. It was built by Taban Ahmed Agha, the leader of

Sipahi The ''sipahi'' ( , ) were professional cavalrymen deployed by the Seljuk Turks and later by the Ottoman Empire. ''Sipahi'' units included the land grant–holding ('' timar'') provincial ''timarli sipahi'', which constituted most of the arm ...

(English: professional cavalryman in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

) of Şebinkarahisar in the 17th century. It was constructed from loocal black stone in typical Ottoman Taşhan architecture. There are arched spaces on two-storeys on both sides of the entrance, and a courtyard in the middle. On the north facade, there is a section of Five outward-facing arched shops. The buildings were in use as a

, covered bazaar. Between 1915 and 1939, the building was used as a prison. During the

1939 Erzincan earthquake An earthquake struck Turkey's eastern Erzincan Province at with a moment magnitude () of 7.8 and maximum Mercalli intensity of XII (''Extreme''). It is tied with the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes as the most powerful earthquake in Turkey to ...

, it was partly damaged. Only the south facade has survived the disaster. The buildings were abandoned, and some materials of the building such as the stone, iron and lead sheet were looted. Later, new shops were built on one side of the covered bazaar. Local people called these covered bazaars as "Taşhanlar". The district municipality took precautions to protect the buildings from further damage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tashanlar Ruins in Turkey Ottoman architecture in Turkey Buildings and structures in Giresun Province Buildings and structures completed in the 17th century Şebinkarahisar