Sultanhani Caravanserai

The Largest Seljuk Caravanserai In Anatolia, Built 1229 For Alaeddin Keykubad I; On The UNESCO Tentative List With The Seljuk Caravanserais Of The Silk Road · Sultanhani, Aksaray

The Seljuks built a chain of fortified inns across Anatolia about a day's camel march apart, where merchants could stay free for three days under the sultan's protection, and this is the largest of them. It went up in 1229 for Alaeddin Keykubad I on the road between Konya and Aksaray, and it covers nearly five thousand square metres behind a carved marble portal that is the finest piece of Seljuk stonework most visitors will see. Inside, an open courtyard for the summer leads to a covered hall for the winter, vaulted and lit through a lantern dome, where animals and men slept together in the cold. The oddity - and there is nothing else quite like it - is the mosque, raised on four arches in the middle of the courtyard so that the space flows underneath it. It is ten minutes off the Cappadocia road and most people give it ten minutes, which is about a third of what the building is actually worth.

Sultanhani Beldesi, Konya Yolu, Aksaray, Sultanhani, Aksaray, Turkiye

Open daily with longer summer hours and an earlier winter close. It sits directly on the Konya-Aksaray road and is an easy stop in either direction. The covered winter hall can be dim; the courtyard is open to the sky. Carpet sellers operate around the entrance. Check the closing time if you are arriving late from Cappadocia.

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