Deliller Hanı
Diyarbakir, Türkiye

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:

Sinclair, T. A. Eastern Turkey: An Architectural and Archaeological Survey, 3: 188. 4 vols. London: The Pindar Press, 1989.
Location
Diyarbakir, Türkiye
Images & Videos
Associated Names
Events
1527-1528/934 AH
Style Periods
1299-1922
Variant Names
Deliller Han
Variant
Deliller Caravanserai
Translated
Building Usages
commercial
commercial