Caravanserai
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A caravanserai (Persian كاروانسرا, Turkish: kervansaray) was a roadside inn where travellers could rest and recover from the day's journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information, and people across the network of trade routes covering Asia, North Africa, and South-Eastern Europe.
Most typically it was a building with a square or rectangular walled exterior, with a single portal wide enough to permit large or heavily laden beasts such as camels to enter. The courtyard was almost always open to the sky, and the inside walls of the enclosure were outfitted with a number of identical stalls, bays, niches, or chambers to accommodate merchants and their servants, animals, and merchandise.[1] Caravanserais provided water for human and animal consumption, washing, and ritual ablutions. Sometimes they even had elaborate baths. They also kept fodder for animals and had shops for travellers where they could acquire new supplies. In addition, there could be shops where merchants could dispose of some of their goods.[2]
The word is also rendered as caravansarai and caravansary. It is a Westernization of the Persian word كاروانسرا, which combines caravan (كاروان) with sarayı (سرا) meaning dwelling, palace, or enclosed courts. Caravan itself has come to have a similar meaning in English, where it refers to a group or convoy of soldiers, traders, pilgrims, or other travellers engaged in long distance travel.
 Interior of the Caravanserai of Sa'd al-Saltaneh in Qazvin. |
 Caravanserai of Shah Abbas, now a hotel, in Isfahan. View is from courtyard (sahn). |
 A sample plan of Safavid caravanserai. |
[edit] References
- ^ Sims, Eleanor. 1978. Trade and Travel: Markets and Caravanserais.' In: Michell, George. (ed.). 1978. Architecture of the Islamic World - Its History and Social Meaning. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 101.
- ^ Ciolek, T. Matthew. 2004-present. Catalogue of Georeferenced Caravanserais/Khans. Old World Trade Routes (OWTRAD) Project. Canberra: www.ciolek.com - Asia Pacific Research Online.
[edit] Further reading
- Branning, Katharine. 2002. The Seljuk Han in Anatolia. www.turkishhan.org, New York, USA.
- Encyclopedia Iranica, p.798-802
- Erdmann, Kurt, Erdmann, Hanna. 1961. Das anatolische Karavansaray des 13. Jahrhunderts, 3 vols. Berlin: Mann, 1976, ISBN 3-7861-2241-5
- Hillenbrand, Robert. 1994. Islamic Architecture: Form, function and meaning. NY: Columbia University Press. (see Chapter VI for an in depth overview of the caravanserai).
- Kiani, Mohammad Yusef. 1976. Caravansaries in Khorasan Road. Reprinted from: Traditions Architecturales en Iran, Tehran, No. 2 & 3, 1976.
- Yavuz, Aysil Tükel. 1997. The Concepts that Shape Anatolian Seljuq Caravanserais. In: Gülru Necipoglu (ed). 1997. Muqarnas XIV: An Annual on the Visual Culture of the Islamic World. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 80-95. Available online as a PDF document, 1.98 MB archnet.org/library/pubdownloader/pdf/8967/doc/DPC1304.pdf.
