Evdirhan Caravanserai

Built as the first stop north along the ancient trade road from the port city of Antalya, Evdirhan was a massive fortified inn designed to protect travelers, caravans, and possibly even garrison soldiers. Today the caravanserai, one of the largest in Turkey, is in a state of beautiful ruin perfect for an hour of exploration.

The north wall has completely collapsed though the south portion, with its well-preserved portal, is in fair condition. A number of double sections of vaulting are still standing.

Evdirhan is relatively inornate, the only real exception being the beautiful crown portal doorway that the Seljuks used. The building’s sole door is capped by stalactite vaulting and surrounded by geometric patterns, carved knotwork, and niches. You can see the channel built into the masonry for the heavy crossbar that would slide out across the door and into a notch on the other side.

To the right of the entrance there is one rather odd chamber that opens into a small space within one of the buttresses. It is thought that this rather unusual space would have been a latrine. From the outside you can see clay piping where the wall has broken and a large marble block with Latin writing above what looks like a gap for wastewater to flow out.

Recent excavation work has cleared the inside of Evdirhan of all the rubble from the caved in ceilings and fallen walls, making a great pile on the north side of the building and making it much easier to walk through the ruins. Outside the caravanserai, excavations have revealed other buildings that may have been baths and cisterns though there doesn’t seem to be any decisive information about that at this time.

Evdirhan was built in 1219 by Seljuk Sultan Izzedin Keykavus I. making it one of the oldest Seljuk era caravanserais in Turkey. After Evdirhan was built, the design of the Seljuk caravanserai quickly developed a standard model, with a much smaller courtyard, a bath, a small mosque, and a large roofed hall (see Susuz han, Kayseri Sultan hanı, Aksaray Sultan hanı, and Karatay hanı for examples). Unlike those later caravanserais, Evdirhan is basically a massive courtyard surrounded on all sides by arched alcoves and chambers. In the centre of each wall is a single larger archway (one being the entrance) and otherwise there is little variation to the near-square design. This design comes from the old caravanserais and rabat forts of Iran and central Asia.

With the presence of so many classical ruins left scattered about the region it’s not surprising that there are a number of repurposed blocks peeking out here and there from the walls and foundations. In front of the caravanserai there is a small collection of classical era stonework such as a pair of broken sarcophagi.