Ertokuş Han

The Ertokuş Han is a Seljuk caravanserai on the eastern shore of Lake Eğirdir in the Turkish province of Isparta in Anatolia.

Location

The Ertokuş Han is located in the area of the municipality Yeşilköy in the district Gelendost, between the road D 350 from Isparta to Konya and the shore of Lake Eğirdir; the caravanserai is about one hundred meters from the lake. At the time of its construction it lay on the important trade route from Antalya to Afyon and Konya.

The caravanserai is today somewhat hidden: coming from the north, one turns off the D350 after the mosque (Yeşilköy Cami) onto the first field path on the left. The very poor road ends after about three hundred meters in front of the caravanserai. Coming from the south, one turns left onto the field path after the gas station on the right side.

The caravanserai can only be visited from the outside; the interior was closed after renovation because of vandalism. A key can be obtained from the opposite farm.

Name

The Ertokuş Han bears the name of its founder, Mübarüziddin Ömer Ertokuş, a prominent Atabeg and Emir in the service of the Seljuk sultan Kayqubad I (Turkish: Alaeddin Keykubad).

Over time the names Gelendost Han (after the nearest larger town), Selçuk Han and Kudret Han have also been used.

History

The construction was carried out on the order of the Seljuk sultan Kayqubad I; the Emir and Atabey Mübarüziddin Ömer Ertokuş acted as the builder for the caravanserai that was begun in 1223 and completed in 1224.

Over the centuries the route from Antalya to Afyon lost its importance and the caravanserai gradually fell into decay. Because the caravanserai lay away from settlements, it escaped the fate of being used as a quarry for other buildings (as happened, for example, with the Eğirdir Han).

In the 1950s the han was already in very poor condition, and so the first preservation measures were taken. In 2007 a comprehensive renovation began, which lasted until 2017. The han was completely renovated; since then the interior has been closed.

Architecture

The han consists of two connected structures, the “Summer Court” and the “Winter Hall”. The caravanserai is oriented from south to north and lies parallel to the lake shore about one hundred meters away. The entrance is on the south side and is surrounded by a square (15 metre) courtyard paved with smooth stones.

The summer building is approximately 24 metres wide and 34 metres long. Next to the entrance gate there are on the right and left two separate rooms of about twenty square metres. In the room to the right of the gate it is suspected to be a prayer room, because it contains a narrow window; however no signs of religious use, such as a mihrāb (prayer niche), were found. On the left in the gate room there is a semi‑open antechamber and behind it a smaller room. Here a hamam is suspected, but there is also no evidence for it, such as a water reservoir.

Behind the gate opens the thirty‑metre long and eight‑metre wide courtyard, which ends at the inner gate of the Winter Hall. On the right and left of the courtyard there are four sleeping rooms each, whose barrel vaults are supported on each side by three columns, but the vault is no longer original.

Above the entrance to the Winter Hall there is a marble slab with the Arabic inscription

The German translation reads: This building, which belongs to the Sultan, was built by Mübarüziddin Ertokuş Ömer for the cause of Allah in the year 620 after the Hijra.

The winter hall adjoins directly the summer courtyard and consists of a 27 meter long hall covered with a barrel vault and supported by eight columns. The original columns came from Byzantine times and were taken to the museum in Isparta during the renovation.

The exterior walls up to 1.5 meter thick consist of two hewn limestone walls, which were filled inside with rubble stones and mortar. The han has no decorations or spolia, and a typical Seljuk muqarnas decoration is also missing. Only the entrance portal is clad with white marble slabs.