Istanbul_ The Collected Traveler_ An Inspired Companion Guide - Barrie Kerper [110]
Other hans worth a visit are lower on the slopes of Istanbul and are most accessible from Mahmud Pasha Yokshu, the principal thoroughfare joining the Spice Bazaar with the lower gate of the Covered Bazaar. About three hundred yards down the street is the Kurkchu Han: the han of the furriers. It is by far the most ancient standing han in Istanbul and is easily recognized in Evliya’s seventeenth-century accounts.
Built in 1460 as still another benefaction of Mahmud Pasha, it originally consisted of 120 rooms arrayed around a double courtyard and at one time had a small mosque in the first court. That has long since disappeared. The interior is not much to look at, but the facade and gateway are well preserved and are unencumbered by surrounding buildings.
Descending down Mahmud Pasha Yokshu, the first turning on the left is Chakmakchilar Yokshu, a fairly steep, narrow way, off which are three eighteenth-century hans. The two on the left, Buyuk Yeni Han (Big New Han) and Kuchuk Yeni Han (Small New Han), are foundations of Sultan Mustafa III and were constructed about 1760.
The Buyuk Yeni Han is distinguished by an extremely long, slim courtyard more than one hundred yards in length and it possesses a three-tiered arcade, the only such surviving. The effect of the court is spoiled by the later addition of a crosswall. But the triple arcade with its alternating brick and stonework is very handsome. The Kuchuk Yeni Han, on the other hand, is totally eclipsed by its far grander contemporary, save for one feature: a tiny red mosque perched high on its roof.
Continuing up the Chakmakchilar Yokshu, there is a large portal on the right leading to what is unquestionably the largest and most celebrated of the Istanbul hans: the Valide. It is described in considerable detail by Evliya. The Valide was built in 1646 by Kosem, the Greek mother of the Sultans Murad IV and Ibrahim I, with the endowment of five royal domains. She was principal wife of Sultan Ahmet I, who built the Blue Mosque, and was a savvy politician but ran afoul of the Janissaries, the palace guard, in 1651 and was strangled with a curtain cord.
In Evliya’s day this han had over 350 storerooms and boasted stables that could accommodate more than one thousand mounts. The very irregular shape of the han testifies to the ancient street plan to which the builders had to adapt their design. A mosque in the center of the courtyard has been recently rebuilt, and the back rooms, three stories high on account of the steep incline on which the han sits, now house a textile mill.
The back of the Valide Han abuts Uzun Charshi Caddesi. This street descends sharply almost to the Golden Horn but ends abruptly before the courtyard of Rustem Pasha Mosque. This mosque is one of the few private works of Sinan, Suleiman the Magnificent’s chief architect. It was commissioned in 1550 by the grand vizier Rustem Pasha and is considered one of Sinan’s masterpieces.
It has a jewellike perfection to its design and the matchless exterior revetment of Iznik tiles is almost unknown in Moslem architecture outside of Iran. The tiles are precisely set to form a sinuous floral pattern, and one, just right of the door, bears a fanciful representation of the holy city of Mecca, replete with minarets, pulpit, fountains, and even the Kaaba sheltering the sacred black stone that the devout believe was given to Abraham by Gabriel.
To the right of the mosque, at a distance of approximately fifty yards, is the Balkapan Han, traditionally the honey market. The han is not especially distinguished; but in Evliya’s day it housed a contingent of Egyptian traders and it was constructed over some genuinely ancient Byzantine vaults that may be reached from the center of the court.
This brief list of the hans is by no means exhaustive but is a fair sample. There are others in Istanbul