glossary

arabesque	An application of repeating geometric forms that often echo the forms of plants and animals. They are often seen on the stone carvings of han portals
arcade	A covered passageway, which can have cells along the sides; or a series of arches supported by columns or piers. Arcades are frequently seen in hans on the two lateral sides of courtyards
ashlar	Ashlar is dressed stone work of any type of stone. Ashlar blocks are large rectangular blocks of masonry sculpted to have square edges and even faces. The blocks are generally 13 to 15 inches in height. When smaller than 11 inches, they are usually called "small ashlar".
bay	A bay is an alcove or a small recessed room or compartment opening off of a larger room. It is also a part of a building marked off by vertical elements, such as columns or pilasters: an arcade divided into ten bays.
caldarium	One of the three main rooms of a Roman bath (in order of bathing sequence: frigidarium, tepidarium, caldarium). This is the hottest room of the bathing sequence. The room is equipped with a hot bathing pool, which is usually heated by an underfloor heating system.
cornice	A cornice is generally any horizontal decorative molding which crowns any building, over a door, window or roof edge. Its function is to divert rainwater from the side walls of the building.
crenellations	A fortified parapet with alternate solid parts and openings, termed respectively merlons and cresting. Used for defense, but commonly employed as a decorative motif in hans.
cruciform plan	four vaulted iwans that face each other across a central courtyard
emir	The Arabic word for prince. In Seljuk times, this title was conferred to a high-ranking military commander in service to the Sultan
haha wall	The ha-ha wall is a device to allow a view from the house over the neighbouring countryside, without a wall or hedge in the way. It usually takes the form of a sunken ditch (1.8 m) that serves as boundary wall. It was used to keep animals such as sheep and cattle out of the formal garden without sacrificing the view across the countryside. The courtyard wall in the Zazadin Han uses this construct.
hammam	the Arabic word for bath or public bathing spaces.
imaret	a hospice or public kitchen providing food for the needy
iwan	vaulted hall closed on three sides and open at one end, overlooking a courtyard
külliye	Külliye, deriving from the Arabic word "kûl" (meaning the whole, all) is a term which designates a complex of buildings, and managed within a single institution, often based on a vakıf (foundation). It can comprise a mosque, a medrese, a darüşşifa (a building constructed for medical purposes, equivalent of a hospital or a medical center of our day), kitchens, bakery, hammam, other buildings for various benevolent services for the community. The tradition of building külliye is a high note of the humanism of the Seljuk era, and continued into the Ottoman era.
medrese	a religious school endowed for teaching the four sects of Islamic law: Shafi'ie, Maliki, Hanafi and Hanbali
mescit	a small mosque
mihrab	An arched niche in the qibla wall indicating the direction of Mecca and prayer
minaret	the mosque tower from which the call to prayer is given five times daily
mimbar	the pulpit from which the sermon at the Friday noon prayer is given
muquarnas	an ornamental arrangement of stacked multi-tiered niches found in domes, squinches and doors.
nakshi	a form of Arabic script. It consists cursive lines and angles. The inscription plaques on hans are written in the nakshi style of calligraphy.
nave	The nave is the central aisle of a church, extending from the narthex to the chancel and flanked by aisles. The term is figuratively used to describe a central aisle of a covered section when it is of monumental size, such as at the Zazadin Han
oculus	can also be referred to as a skyhole
ogival arch	a pointed arch
palmette	A decorative motif based on the fan-shaped leaves of a palm tree. It was largely employed in the Greek, Roman and Byzantine eras, and was also largely used in the stone carved decoration of the portals of Seljuk hans.
pendentive	A pendentive is a constructive device permitting the placing of a circular dome over a square room or an elliptical dome over a rectangular room. The pendentives, which are triangular segments of a sphere, taper to points at the bottom and spread at the top to establish the continuous circular or elliptical base needed for the dome. In masonry the pendentives thus receive the weight of the dome, concentrating it at the four corners where it can be received by the piers beneath. Prior to the pendentive's development, the device of corbelling or the use of the squinch in the corners of a room had been employed. The first attempts at pendentives were made by the Romans and full achievement of the form was reached in Hagia Sophia at Constantinople (6th cent.)
pier	A pier is an upright support for a building, arch or bridge. The cross section of the pier is generally square, rectangular, or circular, although other shapes are also possible (cruciform, or cross-shaped, piers were frequent in Gothic cathedrals). Piers in Seljuk hans are generally square or rectangular. In buildings that are designed as a sequence of bays, each window or door opening between piers is considered a single bay.
qibla	The direction of prayer oriented towards Mecca
qibla wall	the wall facing the direction to Mecca indicated by the mihrab
ribat	A ribat (from the Arabic word fo a hospice) is a term for a small military fortification as built along a frontier during the first years of the Islamic eras, notably in Iran and in north Africa. These military fortifications later served to protect commercial routes, became centers for isolated Muslim communities, and over time, ribats also became hostels for voyagers on major trade routes and refuges for mystics.
riwaq	the portico or cloisters of arcades surrounding the courtyard of a han or mosque
spolia	Spolia (Latin, 'spoils') is a modern term used to in art history to describe the re-use of earlier building material or decorative sculpture on new monuments. The reuse of stones is a fairly common building practice and can be seen at most all periods of art history: late antiquity, during the Byzantine era, in the medieval West, and in the medieval Islamic world. It is very frequent during the Seljuk era, notably in Konya (columns in the Alaeddin Mosque in Konya and in many hans of the Konya region. The use of spolia (spoliation) has two interpretations: the ideological (re-use of elements from buildings of former empires now conquered, in the sense of the spoils of war; or in the sense to revive past glories) and pragmatic: if a good marble column or stone is available, why produce a new one? The use of spolia in the Seljuk era is a complex one. Churches were allowed to continue operating under the Seljuk reign, so one must assume that the use of spolia in this era was pragmatic.
squinch	A squinch in architecture is a piece of construction used for filling in the upper angles of a square room so as to form a proper base to receive a spherical dome. It was the primitive solution of this problem, the perfected one being eventually provided by the pendentive. Squinches may be formed by masonry built out from the angle in corbelled courses, or by building an arch or a number of corbelled arches diagonally across the corner. In Islamic Persia, where it may have been invented, the squinch took the form of a succession of corbelled stalactite-like structures known as muqarnas.
tandir	The ‘tandır' is a kind of oven buried underground and resembles a big hole full of embers (probably fueled by dried camel dung). This pit oven is used to bake the traditional flatbread. It is the only way to cook dough in several minutes. It can also be used to cook the "tandir kebab" (Lamb pieces or sometimes a whole lamb roasted with onions for several hours). Tandirs have been found in several hans, notably at Kurucesme. For a video demonstrating bread-baking in a tandir, click here.
tekke	a building designed specifically for gatherings of a Sufi brotherhood,
tepidarium	The tepidarium is one of the three major rooms of the Roman bath (caldarium, frigidarium and the tepidarium). After changing street clothes and working up a sweat in the entry room (palaestra), this was the stop on the way to the hot caldarium and then the cool-watered frigidarium. The tepidarium is the warm room, usually heated by an underfloor heating system. It was usually the most highly-decorated room in the bath, and lit by clerestory windows.
vakif	land or property charitably endowed in perpetuity for the benefit of a pious institution, and yielding an income. Most hans were run by vakifs.
voussoir	Voussoirs are the wedge-shaped stone blocks forming an arch. Although each unit of stone in an arch or vault is known as a voussoir, there are two specified voussoir components of an arch: the keystone and the springer. The keystone is the center stone or masonry unit at the apex of an arch, often decorated, embellished or exaggerated in size. The springer is the lowermost voussoir, located where the curve of the arch springs from the vertical support or abuttment of the wall or pier.Voussoir arches distribute weight efficiently.