Çengel Han

Çengel Han; a historic caravanserai in the Ulus district of Ankara's Altındağ district, built in 1522-1523 by Damat Rüstem Pasha, the husband of Mihrimah Sultan. It is located on Depot Street in the Atpazarı Neighborhood, Kaleönü. Its architecture is classical Ottoman architecture. It is built on a nearly square rectangular plan. There is a courtyard in the middle, with single-story structures on the northeast façade, and two-story shops lined up on the entrance side of the façade. The southwest façade is three stories due to the slope of the terrain. Its walls are solid Harasani walls, and because the caravanserai was suitable for protection, it was used for a long time as a cotton (tiftik) warehouse. Due to its solid architecture, it has survived in good condition to the present day.

In the Ottoman period, the Çengel Han, located on the Silk Road, became an important trade center that was a stopover point for Anatolian caravans. Until its expropriation in 1991, its owner was Raife Kocabeyoğlu-Öngen, a descendant of the Anatolian Beylerbey Karacapaşa. Karacapaşa, the son‑in‑law of Sultan Bayezid I, was killed in 1444 while commanding the left wing of the Ottoman army in the Battle of Varna, where he served as Anatolian Beylerbey.

Having been used for a long time as a cotton warehouse, Çengel Han was also used as a storage for foodstuffs such as rice by 18–20 tenants, among them the Kınacıs and Bulgurlus, families from Ankara. In the 1980s it was recognized by the High Council for the Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage as a “historic monument in need of protection”. Upon the death of Raife Kocabeyoğlu-Öngen in 1990, Çengel Han passed to the children of Çengel Han, Reşadet Öngen-Ceyhan and Reşat Öngen. However, Ankara Municipality expropriated the han in 1991 to build a Municipal Palace. The municipality could not carry out this project and, after leaving the han vacant for a long time, transferred it to the General Directorate of Foundations. In 2005 Çengel Han was leased and restored by Koç Holding. The han is today used as a museum.

Above the entrance door, within a frame, an inscription is written. This inscription, written in Turkish in thuluth script, consists of two lines and reads as follows:

It is finished, for this building is the palace of this han, the truth of the sacrifice. “Seeing that it is finished, the tongue said ‘Melih’il‑hayır the history of this han 1522’”.