Kesikköprü Kervansarayı

The Kesikköprü Caravanserai is a 13th-century Anatolian Seljuk han standing in the village of Kesikköprü on the bank of the Kızılırmak, about twenty kilometres south of Kırşehir. Because it was built by Cacaoğlu Nureddin, emir of Kırşehir, it is also known as the Cacabey Caravanserai, and it stands right next to Kesikköprü, one of the best-known Seljuk bridges. Sources give the han's distance from Kırşehir as between 18 and 23 kilometres; the village lies on today's road between Kırşehir and Aksaray. History The four-line inscription on the portal of the covered section says that the han was built in the month of Muharram of the Hijri year 667, that is in 1268-69, in the name of Sultan Gıyaseddin Keyhüsrev son of Kılıçarslan, by the hand of Cebrail son of Caca. The TDV Encyclopedia of Islam also dates the building to 1268-69. Some promotional texts date the han to 1248 or 1251; the inscription and the encyclopedia give 1268-69. Cacaoğlu Nureddin was the son of Bahaeddin Caca; he was a Seljuk statesman who rose after 1261 and became emir of Kırşehir. His endowment deed of 1272, in Arabic and Mongolian, is known as the first document in which Mongolian was written in the Uyghur script; with this endowment he met the expenses of his buildings, such as the madrasa, mosque, han and lodge. He built the Cacabey Madrasa in Kırşehir in 1273; in 1277 he was taken prisoner during the Mamluk army's campaign into Anatolia. The han was repaired by the General Directorate of Foundations in 1989 and took its present form. Architecture The building follows the classic han plan, and the south-facing portal projects outward with its mass from the middle of the courtyard's narrow front. The voussoirs of the low-arched entrance are decorated with intricate geometric motifs in carving and relief; on either side of the course of stones above the arch there is a rosette. The frame of the portal is formed by stepped mouldings, and round half-columns rise on its two outer edges. On the pediment a corniced frame marks the place of the door inscription, but this inscription is lost; on either side of the portal there is a plainly decorated niche. A long, vaulted passage leads from the portal into the courtyard. A door at the west end of the passage opens into the han's small mosque; the lintel of the mosque door is deeply carved, and its large stone mihrab bears geometric ornament. On either side of the mihrab there are large niches known as lamp niches; the mosque's west wall has two small windows, and a stone staircase to the roof runs up its north wall. East of the portal is the innkeeper's room, whose door opens onto the courtyard. Along the north of the courtyard runs a barrel-vaulted arcade with pointed arches carried on six piers. The portal of the covered section bears two lion reliefs. In the covered section, ten stone piers in five rows separate three naves; the middle nave is higher than the side ones, and the naves are covered with vaults. Ten short piers and twelve pointed arches separate the naves from one another; two windows each open in the upper parts of the north and south walls. The upper levels of the vaults are of rubble stone, while the rest of the han is of finely dressed stone. Four-cornered towers serving as buttresses support the outer walls; the gargoyles are simple hollowed stones. Kesikköprü The bridge beside the han crosses the Kızılırmak with thirteen pointed-arched openings; it is 400 metres long and 6 metres wide. Its three-line inscription states that the bridge was built in the Hijri year 646, that is 1248, by the Atabeg İzzeddin Muhammed in the reign of Sultan İzzeddin Keykavus son of Keyhüsrev; the inscription is known to have been under the river's waters in 1953. Travellers coming from İzmir who wanted to reach Sivas and Erzurum by way of Tokat crossed this bridge; it lies on the road linking Kırşehir and Konya. It is said to have taken its name from bandits cutting the caravan route on the bridge in the 17th and 18th centuries; a document of 1744 shows that villages nearby were appointed as bridge keepers for the ruined bridge that had become a bandits' den. The bridge was repaired in 1616, 1849, 1925 and 2004; the many renewals altered the original heights of the openings. The openings on the caravanserai side are wider and higher, because the river's main channel runs close to that bank. On the Aksaray side of the bridge there is an open-air prayer place, and beneath its Ottoman-period inscription a mihrab with a simple round niche. Visiting and getting there Start your visit at the portal; you will see the geometric ornament and the rosettes better in the light before noon. Enter the mosque through the door on the west of the passage and study the mihrab and the niches, then see the courtyard and the lion-decorated door of the covered section. The covered section is cool in summer; wander among the piers and vaults and notice the height of the middle nave. Then walk to the bridge; photograph its thirteen openings and asymmetrical arches from the opposite bank or from the bridge itself. The bridge is an open site and can be visited at any hour; check the visiting conditions of the han with the Kırşehir Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism. The village of Kesikköprü is reached from the centre of Kırşehir by the road south towards Aksaray; for those coming from Ankara, the route via Kırşehir is the most practical and a private car is needed. On the same day you can see the Cacabey Madrasa in Kırşehir.