Deliller Hanı is an Ottoman
period caravanserai located in the walled city of Diyarbakır along the axial
north-south road just inside the Mardin Gate. Its name refers to the pilgrimage
guides (delil) who may have used the building as a hostel on their way
to Mecca. The building is also called Hüsrev Paşa Hanı after the second Ottoman
governor of Diyar Bakr province who commissioned its construction. Workshops
and storage rooms occupied the building until the 1980s when the Turkish government
restored the caravanserai and converted it into a tourist hotel.
The building is constructed of
basalt blocks. Limestone masonry serves to highlight some features such as
archways, door jambs, and lintels. The main component is a rectangular block
centered on a courtyard. Stables adjoin this block to the south, extending the
complex further in that direction.
One enters through a portal on the
building’s west side. The portal takes the form of a gatehouse, with arched
iwan leading to the door on the first level and two windows overlooking the street
on the second. The portal rises higher than the rest of the building and is constructed
with alternating basalt and limestone courses, further distinguishing it from
the surrounding basalt façade. On either side of the portal, shops open onto
the street from low archways at ground level.
The portal leads onto a courtyard
surrounded by a two-story arcade. Behind the arcade are doors leading onto small
cells. The entrance passage interrupts the arcade on the courtyard’s west side and
a large iwan on its east side.
Sources:
Deliller Hanı is an Ottoman
period caravanserai located in the walled city of Diyarbakır along the axial
north-south road just inside the Mardin Gate. Its name refers to the pilgrimage
guides (delil) who may have used the building as a hostel on their way
to Mecca. The building is also called Hüsrev Paşa Hanı after the second Ottoman
governor of Diyar Bakr province who commissioned its construction. Workshops
and storage rooms occupied the building until the 1980s when the Turkish government
restored the caravanserai and converted it into a tourist hotel.
The building is constructed of
basalt blocks. Limestone masonry serves to highlight some features such as
archways, door jambs, and lintels. The main component is a rectangular block
centered on a courtyard. Stables adjoin this block to the south, extending the
complex further in that direction.
One enters through a portal on the
building’s west side. The portal takes the form of a gatehouse, with arched
iwan leading to the door on the first level and two windows overlooking the street
on the second. The portal rises higher than the rest of the building and is constructed
with alternating basalt and limestone courses, further distinguishing it from
the surrounding basalt façade. On either side of the portal, shops open onto
the street from low archways at ground level.
The portal leads onto a courtyard
surrounded by a two-story arcade. Behind the arcade are doors leading onto small
cells. The entrance passage interrupts the arcade on the courtyard’s west side and
a large iwan on its east side.
Sources: