Sahipata Han

The Seljuk Han of Anatolia

SAHIPATA HAN

View of main entry portal

View showing kiosk mescit mosque in courtyard and group of side cells

Kiosk mosque and view of portal leading to covered section

Group of side cells in courtyard

DISTRICT (IL)
03 AFYONKARAHISAR

LOCATION
This han is located on the Afyon-Akşehir Road, about 67 km east of Çay in the town of Sultandağı.
[map]

OTHER NAMES

Işakli Han

DATE
1249-50 ( dated by an inscription of 5 lines on the hall door)
The inscription of the hall door reads: "Built in the time of Izzeddin al-Dunya, son of Kay Khosrau, son of Keykobad, by his humble slave Ali ibn Husain".
There is another inscription over the courtyard door which states the same information, but qualifies Sahip Ata as "His humble slave who has sinned".

REIGN OF

Izzeddin Keykavus II

PATRON
The Seljuk vizier Fahreddin Ali ibn Husein (Fakhr al-Din Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn Abu Bakr) known as Sahipata (d. 1288).

Sahip Ata is considered the greatest Seljuk patron of architecture of the post-Kösedağ era in the second half of the thirteenth century. His patronage and hand have graced Turkey with three of its most impressive and beautiful monuments: the Konya Larende Complex, the Sivas Gök Medrese and the Konya Ince Minare. He was one of the most important and powerful Seljuk statesmen of the period of the Mongol Protectorate (after 1243), holding a succession of high offices in the Seljuk administration between 1250-51 and his death in 1288. He is the last of the great statesmen figures of the Seljuk period, along with Celaleddin Karatay and Shams al-din Isfahani. The region of Karahisar on the western frontier was conferred on him and his family at the beginning of the Mongol period, and it is here that he and his sons appear to have been particularly active as builders.

We know by the epigraphical evidence that this famous vizier also built the:

Tas Medrese in Akşehir (1250),
Konya Larende Sahipata Cami and complex (1258-1284),
Sahibiye Fountain (1266) and Medrese (1267) in Kayseri
Bath Complex at Ilgin (1267, no longer extant),
Gök Medrese in Sivas (1271),
Sahip Ata Tomb in Konya (1283).

Numerous other foundations have been attributed to him, and include the Ince Minareli Medrese in Konya (c. 1265) and the Sahip Ata Hamam in Konya, and numerous others, now no longer standing.

This would appear to the first han he built (his han at Ilgin is now lost).

BUILDING TYPE

Covered with open courtyard (COC)
Covered section is smaller than the courtyard
Covered section with central aisle and 2 side aisles on each side
5 bays of vaults

DESCRIPTION
The han faces west, and lies perpendicular to the road.

The han is of the classic courtyard-hall scheme (winter and spring sections) with a free-standing kiosk mescit mosque in the middle of the courtyard. It is made of cut stone, with very thick walls. There are slit windows in the walls. The mosque is turned 20 degrees to fit the axis of the kibla wall. There is also a well in the middle of the courtyard.

To the west of the courtyard is a small group of two aisles of cells.

There is a lantern dome in the middle of the covered section.

This han has been thoroughly researched by Dr. Dicle Aydin, Assistant Professor of Architecture at the Selcuk University at Konya. Her research was published (in Turkish) in the March 2006 issue of the Journal of Academic Studies of Turkish Islamic Civilisation. I would like to thank Dr. Aydin for giving me the permission to reproduce her article on this webpage.

Uysal, Mehmet, Aydın, Dicle, Çınar, Kerim and Arat, Yavuz. "Afyon Sultandağı Sahip Ata Kervansarayı." Turk-Islam Medeniyeti Akademik Araştirmalar Dergisi 2, March 2006, pp. 77-112.

DECORATION

There is an elaborate entry door with a pointed arch filled with stalactites. There are rounded towers at the entry to the courtyard.

DIMENSIONS
Total area: 1800
Area of hall: 440 m2
Area of courtyard: 1,100m2

STATE OF CONSERVATION, CURRENT USAGE
The han is in good shape, some restoration of the exterior walls. It is run as an open-air museum by the Turkish government and is open for visits.

Sultandağı was the epicenter of a 6.0 earthquake on February 3-4, 2002, which destroyed much of the town's center. The han appears not to have suffered substantial damage; however the kiosk mosque was severely damaged.

This han is currently undergoing an extensive restauration project, led by Dr. Dicle Aydin of the Selcuk University in Konya. This restauration project, started in 2005, hopes to be completed by 2007. Most of the work involves stone-by-stone reassembly of the kiosk mescit. For pictures of the restauration project, please visit Dr. Aydin's article supra.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES

Altun, p. 200
Bayrak, p. 28
Erdmann, p. 143-145, no. 38
Rice, p. 206

Uysal, Mehmet, Aydın, Dicle, Çınar, Kerim and Arat, Yavuz. "Afyon Sultandağı Sahip Ata Kervansarayı." Turk-Islam Medeniyeti Akademik Araştirmalar Dergisi 2, Konya: Selcuk University Press, March 2006, pp. 77-112.