Evdir Han

Evdir Han is the first stop on the old caravan road climbing north from Antalya and the city's oldest Seljuk han. According to the TDV Encyclopaedia of Islam it lies about 18 kilometres northwest of Antalya, near the village of Yeşilbayır; the Development Agency places it one kilometre east of the present Antalya-Korkuteli highway. Seen from the roadside, high walls enclosing a wide courtyard and the portal in the middle can be made out. Where the restored Kırkgöz Han shows the finished face of a Seljuk caravanserai, Evdir Han is its raw state; the unrestored stone, the masons' marks and the collapsed upper part of the gate let the building speak for itself. The han's three-line marble inscription is no longer in place. Read in 1928 by R. Riefstahl despite its missing date section, the inscription shows that the building was erected in the time of the Seljuk Sultan İzzeddin Keykavus I. The encyclopaedia gives this period as 1211-1220 and the District Governorship as 1210-1219; in other words the han was built in the 1210s, immediately after Antalya came under Seljuk rule. As Antalya turned into a trading centre in that period, this became the first lodging on the caravan road. What makes Evdir Han special within Anatolia is its plan. As the Development Agency explains, until the early 20th century transport relied on horses and camels, trade goods were carried by these animals, and caravans lodged in hans and caravanserais along the way. The open-courtyard, four-iwan plan seen in Seljuk caravanserais was applied in only two buildings in Anatolia. One is Evdir Han, the other is Han el-Barur of 1215, 30 kilometres southeast of Harran. The encyclopaedia notes that this scheme, little adopted in Anatolia, was widespread in the other Seljuk regions. The regular rectangular building on a north-south axis measures 54 by 67.6 metres. A total of ten square buttresses support the walls, three each on the east and west facades and two on each of the others. The courtyard is a rectangle of 34.5 by 45.1 metres, enclosed on all four sides by deep vaulted iwans resting on double rows of stone piers. The entrance iwan, the one opposite it and those on the axis at the sides are the tall, wide main iwans; the others are of gallery proportions. From doors in the east and south walls, stairs of which only three steps each can be seen today evidently led up to small rooms projecting outward like buttresses; the encyclopaedia suggests these may have served as watchtowers. Throughout the building there is regular ashlar facing over rubble fill, and many different masons' marks are visible on the stones; looking for these marks on the walls before approaching the gate is the small game of the visit. The han's decoration is concentrated on the portal of the south facade. The gate projects outward and, as the remains show, was also raised above the main wall; its upper section is partly collapsed today. The niche's hood of seven rows of muqarnas is framed by a pointed arch resting on consoles above cylindrical corner colonnettes. The mihrab-like niches flanking the entrance have hoods of three rows of muqarnas, and the interior is entered through a segmental-arched door. This section, built largely of marble, is almost entirely decorated; a wide band of five- and ten-pointed star interlace bounded by two rows of dentils frames the niche, circles joined by knot motifs and lozenges run across the arch, and fan and shell motifs fill the muqarnas. The Development Agency likewise points to the pointed-arched main gate as the building's most striking part. The encyclopaedia stresses that with its plan and the decoration of its portal Evdir Han holds an important place within Seljuk art. The midday sun flattens the carving; in morning or late afternoon light the marble work gains depth. The encyclopaedia entry records the building as very neglected, and it stands idle today. The District Governorship writes that Döşemealtı Municipality and the Faculty of Fine Arts of Akdeniz University are carrying out a joint project to revive the han, and that after restoration it is planned to host cultural events and house a museum. Part of the site may therefore be closed for works on the day you visit; check the current situation in the announcements of the District Governorship or the municipality. The han stands in open country right beside the road; there is no fee or ticket office, but do not climb onto the ruined wall tops and do not leave children beneath the remains of the gate. It is reached in half an hour by car along the highway from Antalya towards Korkuteli; see the Metropolitan Municipality's transport page for public bus lines towards Yeşilbayır. Visiting Evdir, which the District Governorship describes as the last han to lodge in before reaching Termessos, on the same day as Karain Cave and Kırkgöz Han means following the Seljuk caravan road from end to end.