Atlıhan El Sanatları Çarşısı

The Atlıhan Handicrafts Bazaar is a crafts bazaar set around the courtyard of a historic two-storey inn inside the Odunpazarı Urban Conservation Area. The inn was built in the 1850s by Takattin Bey. The Odunpazarı Municipality guide introduces him as one of the great landowners of Eskişehir. The building was founded as lodgings for market traders, travellers and villagers coming from surrounding villages, towns and cities, both for themselves and for their animals. The Ministry's promotion platform remembers it as the inn where merchants who came to sell their firewood once stayed. The name Odunpazarı itself means firewood market in Turkish. With a tea hearth inside, the inn became more than a place where travellers rested and animals were cared for; it turned into a meeting point where the people of the district gathered. According to the provincial culture directorate, the social and economic issues of the day were discussed here. Over time the building was also known by names such as the Tavafçı Inn and the Odunpazarı Inn. After the second half of the 20th century the inn lost its original function and fell into ruin. In 2006, within the project to keep the Odunpazarı Houses alive, Odunpazarı Municipality rebuilt the structure under the name Atlıhan, taking its original architecture into account. The inn sits on an area of 768 square metres and consists of a ground floor and a first floor. In this building, which carries traditional architectural features, the units are arranged around a stone-paved courtyard. A gallery with iron railings runs along the front of the upper floor, and the rooms open onto this gallery. The arched windows of the ground-floor units look directly onto the courtyard. In the middle of the courtyard there is a tiered fountain with a flower bed. The tiled roof and light-coloured walls tie the building to the same language as the Odunpazarı houses around it. Today the units of the inn hold workshops where meerschaum is carved and sold. The Culture Portal notes that there are also silver, earthenware and glass workshops. The Odunpazarı Municipality guide describes the bazaar as a place where traditional craft products such as meerschaum, silver, earthenware and glass are displayed and sold. Seeing meerschaum carving as a living craft here, after seeing it as finished works in the museum, rounds off a visit to Odunpazarı well. Meerschaum is a material mined in Eskişehir and worked by Eskişehir craftsmen, and the inn lets you see the last link of that chain. Even if you do not shop, walking around the courtyard is reason enough to see how a restored 19th-century inn is laid out. It is polite to ask permission before photographing the craftsmen working in the workshops. Since the units belong to independent tradespeople, their opening hours may differ, so it is best to plan your visit for daytime. The bazaar lies in the area between the Kurşunlu Complex and the Odunpazarı Modern Museum, as you walk down the slope where the Odunpazarı houses stand. The Ministry's two-day itinerary also places Atlıhan after the Kurşunlu Complex and the Meerschaum Museum and before the Odunpazarı Modern Museum. There are other craft bazaars and workshops nearby. For those looking for a small keepsake, the provincial culture directorate recommends the antique dealer on Beyler Street and the wooden toy workshop on Kurşunlu Camii Street. In the Eskişehir Handicrafts Bazaar, in the guest-house section of the Kurşunlu Complex, you can see examples of ney flute making, marbling, illumination, calligraphy and silverwork. According to the Odunpazarı Municipality guide, the workshops of the Kırk Ambar Bazaar are run by women entrepreneurs, and the bazaar also has small gift shops. The Arasta Handicrafts Bazaar is a two-storey building where glass, tile and ceramic works are displayed. You can reach the bazaar on foot from the city centre along Hamamyolu Avenue, or by getting off the EsTram at the Atatürk Lisesi stop and walking a short way.