Hasan Paşa Hanı

This large, two-story building is one of the numerous caravanserais erected in the Ottoman Empire during 16^th century. It is comparable in its design to the slightly larger Deliller Hanı, also in Diyarbakır and of a similar date.1 Its main entrance faces west toward a major north-south artery. Two additional entrances are found to the east and south. The hanı’s facades are patterned through alternating courses of a creamy white limestone and dark gray basalt, a decorative technique known as called ablaq that was common in the traditional architecture of Diyarbakır. The west facade features more elaborate ornamentation, including pointed arches and colonnettes adorning the large windows and a plaque with a mazelike geometric design over the portal.

The three massive entrance halls are covered by pointed vaults and are decorated with elaborate details including intricate corner columns and niches with muqurnas work along the walls. These halls lead into a spacious central courtyard (now covered with canvas for shelter). The courtyard is surrounded by a double-storied portico on all sides, the pointed arcades of which are supported by pillars; the guest cells are arranged in rows behind the arches of these porticoes. The floors are connected by staircases to the right and left of the east and west entry halls. On the second floor, above each entry hall, there is a large central iwan. There is also a basement level, originally used as a stabling area. 

The ablaq masonry is extended throughout the courtyard, uniting the exterior and the interior of the building. A fountain (şadırvan) with six columns and a lead dome rises at the center of the courtyard; its spandrels also make use of the ablaq technique, visually anchoring the structure to the space that encloses it.

• 1. Cf. Sinclair 1989, 189.