Rüstem Pasa Caravanserai

Caravanserai, whether located along old trading routes or in urban centers, are typical pious foundation properties which have fallen into disuse and ruin. Such was the state of the Rustem Pasha Caravanserai when, in 1966, the Turkish Department of Pious Foundations sought first to restore the monument, and subsequently to revitalize its function as a lodging for travelers. Los caravasares, localizados a lo largo de las rutas comerciales o en los centros urbanos, eran edificios de utilidad pública o caritativa que con el paso del tiempo cayeron en desuso y finalmente abandono. En el caso de Rustem Pasa, su estado de ruina era tal en 1966, cuando el Departamento Turco de Fundaciones Pías, que se decidió primero restaurar para más adelante buscarle un uso como alojamiento para viajeros. The Rustem Pasha Caravanserai is located in the historic centre of Edirne. Sited on the main land route between Europe and Asia, Edirne had been capital of the Ottoman Empire for a short time in the fifteenth century and continued to be the key military and commercial centre of the European provinces. In the 1560s, one of the Grand Vezirs, Rustem Pasha, commissioned the eminent court architect Mimar Koca Sinan to design the caravanserai at Edirne. Sinan designed the building surrounding the great rectangular courtyard with its marble basin in the centre. (The secondary courtyard was added later; its architect is unknown.) The spaciousness of Sinan’s quadrangle reflects the ample dimensions of the whole, as do the galleries which offered vistas to the traveler seeking the seclusion of his cell. Walls were built in alternating courses of stone and brick. Sinan’s circular arches in the lower range facing the vaulted structure are broad in span, as are the pointed arches of the second level’s domical structure. Between each arch was place a sandstone balustrade carved with bold traditional motifs.