Kırkgöz Han

It is located on the Antalya-Burdur route and in the Kırkgöz area. The restoration of Kırkgöz Han, completed in 2009, is currently used as a touristic facility. The han, set on a rectangular ground plan extending in the north-south direction, was built as two structural masses with spaces arranged around a large courtyard and a covered/shelter section. The exterior facade walls of the han were reinforced with square prismatic buttresses and corner towers designed as projecting masses reaching the height of the facade.

The monumental portal in the middle of the south facade was designed as a projecting horizontal rectangular prismatic mass rising above the facade walls; it consists of an iwan opening onto the facade in the form of a pointed arch recess, surrounded on the sides and top by broad borders and moldings left plain without ornamentation.

The rectangular-plan courtyard, entered through the entrance iwan covered with a pointed barrel vault reached by means of the low-arched doorway opening of the monumental portal, is a large area surrounded by closed and semi-open spaces; on the east and west sides, opposite each other, there is a double-row portico arrangement opening onto the courtyard, resting on square-plan piers and connected to each other and to the walls by pointed arches. The two opposite spaces at the north-west and north-east corners of the courtyard are rooms each covered with a pointed barrel vault. On the south wing of the courtyard, the two rooms adjoining the monumental portal on both sides are covered with pointed barrel vaults extending in the east-west direction.

During the restoration of the han, the mouth section of a cistern was uncovered in the middle of the courtyard and below ground level, and remains of a ceramic kiln were also encountered in the south-east corner of the courtyard.The covered/shelter section, entered from the north wing of the courtyard and through a low-arched doorway opening in the middle of the facade, is a continuous space extending in the east-west direction and covered with a pointed barrel vault; the vault belly was reinforced with six pointed arches extending in the north-south direction.

It is known from the six-line inscription on the courtyard monumental portal that the patron of the structure, described as a ribat, was İsmetü’d-Dünyâ ve’d-Dîn. It is also known that the name of İsmetü’d-Dünyâ ve’d-Dîn, daughter of Mugiseddîn Tuğrul Şâh, son of Seljuk Sultan II. Kılıç Arslan, is mentioned as patron in the 1232 construction inscription written in thuluth script on marble, which was removed from its place after the fire that occurred in 1909 while it was at the north gate of Alâeddîn Camii in Uluborlu and moved to the Public Education Center. Although the inscription of Kırkgöz Han states that the structure was built during the time of Seljuk Sultan II. Gıyâseddîn Keyhüsrev (M. 1237-46), only thirteen is written in the last line of the inscription containing the date. The said inscription is an original and unique example in that it depicts Sultan II. Gıyâseddîn Keyhüsrev as the owner of the crown, banner and belt, never before seen among earlier Seljuk symbols of sovereignty, and at the same time, for the first time, states the function of the built ribat as a place where those traveling from east to west would be hosted.

Source: Konya Selçuklu Municipality

Places to Visit in Konya Address: Bıyıklı Mahallesi, 07190 Döşemealtı/Antalya