A great trading centre depended not only on merchants coming from outlying districts but also from afar and the endowment of Hans or Kervansarays was as important as it was of markets.
The distinction between the palace of the caravan (Kervansaray) and the depot with sleeping quarters (han), the one in the country and the other in the town, has become blurred. The former is usually the grander of the two. They consisted of separate stables for camels and mules since camels are unsociable and ill-natured animals. They were also used for the horses of the rich as well as pack animals. There were storerooms at ground level round a courtyard with wide covered verandahs in front of the cells for rest above. The verandahs were for daytime and evening relaxation and the cell used for sleeping might also be used for cooking although, as today, there were plenty of stalls or little kitchens where food could be bought.
Most of the Hans of Edirne have disappeared including the fantastic and alarming jeux d'esprit built precariously of wood which appears in European sketches. The grandest of them all in Edirne, that of the Grand Vezir Rustem Pasha, has not only survived but is sheltering travellers once again. Set right in the centre of the city facing the Bedesten, its great bulk is best seen when approaching the city from Istanbul. From there is a good view for it is built over great vaults and foundations on a slope. It is the proportions that are formidable when seen from the south-east and a delight when one is inside. It is the work of Sinan and an outstanding example of the Kervansarays that the Ottomans built all over their empire.
On the market side it is only 2 stores high and here it is the length of the building which impresses. Shops at street level conceal the irregularities of the site. The gate in their midst leads into the main court but at the west corner the entrance of the present hotel leads into the second court where the stables were but now are bar and restaurant for guests. Above these are 25 bedrooms. From this secondary court a slype or tunnel leads to the first. This forms a rectangle with a basin and fountain, newly concocted, in the middle among trees and paths. The spaciousness is matched by the wide span of the pointed arches at first floor level and the round arches below where the cells are vaulted. Above, they are all domed.
The stairways have been restored and are impressively wide for the period as are the upper galleries. Their platforms are now wide enough to accommodate tables and chairs from which to watch the stars and the moon. If Bulgaria or the Carpathians or the Black Sea have not sent clouds, it is a remarkable experience. The Kervansaray was built in 1561, the year in which Rustem Pasha died. He was married to Mihrimah, daughter of Suleyman the Magnificent, when this son of a Croat cobbler had amassed a fortune. He was twice Grand Vezir because for a time he had aroused the littered of the army, quite apart from the rest of the populace a since he was known for his heavy taxes, his greed and his refusal to succor his father. His nicknames included the endearment of 'Louse'. The reason for the taxes was that the flood of silver across the Mediterranean from America caused a financial crisis across Europe. While the very rich got richer, the populace got poorer. He was most despised for his tax on flowers. But far worse was his encouragement of the sale of offices which led to a decline in the great abilities that a classless society had previously tempered in the chambers of the Palace School and by military service. This decline was not as great as some historians have made it out to have been, but it is true that the seeds of the decay of Ottoman military excellence were sown by this curious mixture of a man with his and his wife's passion for Iznik tiles.
His memorial mosque in Istanbul is covered with them from head to toe. The designs are immortal, and his pious foundations adorn Anatolia. A second major Kervansaray was built by Ekmekcioglu (Baker's son) Ahmed Pasha across the road from the mosque of Aye Kadin in 1609. This is an innovator building lacking the qualities of Rustem Pasha's foundation reflecting the fact that Ahmed Pasha was a disagreeable and venal civil servant. The building consists of two large halls each side of a recessed court and arcade. It was to be a form which was repeated throughout the 17th century. The halls are like the old workaday Hans prior to the golden age because of their shed roofs and slit windows. The han built by Sinan for Sokullu Mehmed Pasha at Buyukcekmece had proceeded it but consisted of a single hall. Hamams were necessities for travellers and a fine example was that of Sokullu Mehmed Pasha, again by Sinan, opposite the tic Serefeli Mosque which was also used by the townsfolk. Allowed to fall into disrepair and stripped of its tiles which were worthy of a Grand Vezir, in its restored state it retains those fine measurements that speak out in any Sinan building even if the original quality of the workmanship can only be surmised.
