Carvanserai
| Department | Archive |
|---|---|
| Collection | Byzantine Research Fund |
| Reference No. | BRF/01/01/07/250 |
| Level | Item |
| Place |
Thessalonike |
| Dates | 1906-1915 |
| Donor/Creator |
George, Mr Walter Sykes |
| Scope and Content | Longitudinal section and front elevation of the stalls. Preliminary drawing traced from Pl. .XXVII in C. Texier and P. Pullan, 'Byzantine Architecture: Examples of Edifices Erected in the East', (London, 1864) and annotated by W.S. George |
| Further information | The Caravanserai was a square or rectangular chamber-building with a large court and, usually, a single portal. The interior walls of the courtyard were equipped with stalls to accommodate merchandise and the visitors’/travellers’ horses. In the Caravanserai of Thessalonike the corridor which surrounded the large court gave access on the ground-floor to chambers provided with chimneys while the stalls were housed in the long two-storey building just opposite the gate. On the three sides of the external façade there was a line of shops. Sultan Amurath II has been identified as its founder however, a closer study of the walling which consists of alternate courses of brick and stone may suggest a date around the 12th c. |