The Seljuk Han of Anatolia

Building materials

 

The architecture of the Seljuks of Anatolia was dependent on the local material and building techniques.  Turkey is a region blessed with immensely rich stone quarries of limestone and marble. 

 

Hans were built with ashlar masonry, which uses smooth, squared-off blocks of cut stone.  This technique permits very thin mortar joints.  In ashlar masonry, the smoothed square or rectangular stones (generally ashlar or limestone) are laid with rubble mortar in horizontal courses. The stone was of varying quality, and sometimes aggregate stone was used. A better-quality stone was used in the covered sections than in the courtyards, in the portals than for the walls, and for the outer walls than for the inner ones.

 

The outer walls are solid, between 1-2 m thick, with an average of 1.25 m. 

 

Marble was used for the inscription plaques.
 

 

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