Caravanserai, caravansarai - a roadside inn where caravans could rest and recover from the day's journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information and people across a network of trade routes of Asia, North Africa and South-Eastern Europe.

Most typically it was a "building with a square or rectangular walled exterior, with a single portal wide enough to permit large or heavily laden beasts such as camels to enter. The courtyard is almost always open to the sky, and along the inside walls of the enclosure are ranged a number of identical stalls, bays, niches or chambers to accommodate merchants and their servants, their animals and merchandise' (Sims 1978:101).

Caravanserais provided water for drinking (for animals and people), and for washing and ritual ablutions. Sometimes they even had elaborate baths. They also kept fodder for animals and had shops for travellers where they could acquire new supplies. In addition, there could be shops where merchants could dispose some of their goods." (Ciolek 2004).

Westernization of the Persian word sarayı with the meaning dwelling, palace or enclosed courts. The word carvan also has a Persian origin.

Further reading

• Erdmann, Kurt. 1961. Das Anatolische Karavansaray, 3 vols. Berlin, 1961. Istanbul, 1976.
• Sims, Eleanor. 1978. Trade and Travel: Markets and Caravanserais.' In: Michell, George. (ed.). 1978. Architecture of the Islamic World - Its History and Social Meaning. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 80-111.
• Yavuz, Aysil Tükel. 1997. The Concepts that Shape Anatolian Seljuq Caravanserais. In: Gülru Necipoglu (ed). 1997. Muqarnas XIV: An Annual on the Visual Culture of the Islamic World. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 80-95. Available online as a PDF document, 1.98 MB archnet.org/library/pubdownloader/pdf/8967/doc/DPC1304.pdf.

External Links

• Ciolek, T. Matthew. 2004. Catalogue of Georeferenced Caravanserais/Khans. Old World Traditional Trade Routes (OWTRAD) Project. Canberra: www.ciolek.com - Asia Pacific Research Online.
• Branning, Katharine. 2002. The Seljuk Han in Anatolia. www.turkishhan.org, New York, USA.
• Kiani, Mohammad Yusef. 1976. Caravansaries in Khorasan Road. Reprinted from: Traditions Architecturales en Iran, Tehran, No. 2 & 3, 1976.