The Seljuk Han of Anatolia
Portals
There is no element more characteristic in Seljuk hans than their impressive main doors. The main entrance doors to both the courtyard and the covered sections of hans are perhaps their most distinctive feature. Known as “crown doors” in Turkish (taç kapi), they indeed are worn by the building as a crown. This style of portal is associated almost entirely with Anatolian Seljuk architecture from the late 12th through the early 14th centuries. The distinctive form of the crown door emerged in the last quarter of the 12th century and became omnipresent on all Seljuk buildings: medreses, tombs, hospitals, mosques and hans. They are particularly important in hans, because they were the primary means of decoration for these austere buildings.
Han portals comprise a standard set of elements and characteristics:
- There is only one entry to the han to ensure maximal security. The door was closed at sunset and opened at dawn to ensure the safety of the people and goods inside.
- The doors are generally set in a frame which projects from, and is higher than, the façade. There are several hans, such as the Obruk and the Kuruçeşme Hans, where the portal is flush with the main façade.
- They are made of stone, never brick
- They generally include a white marble inscription plaque set in a panel frame above the entrance door
- Above the entry door is a hood, formed by multiple tiers of muqarnas elements. These cell hoods are the most visually striking and technically sophisticated element of Seljuk portals, and have come to be a characteristic hallmark of all of Seljuk architecture of the 13th century and into the 14th century. These cell hoods are seen on all types of Seljuk buildings, not just on hans. This decorative feature is not a Seljuk invention but were seen as early as the late 11th century in Syria and Egypt. The muqarnas of the main portal are carved from several blocks of stone assembled together. They are generally composed of 7 rows of cells. The cells consist of either concave or convex forms with two triangular facets, each of which has either two or three vertical grooves in the form of semi-cones, with the points meeting at the bottom middle and the wide sections forming a fan shape around the edge. They are wider than they are high. These blocks have facets which interlock them in place, and allow flexibility in this region prone to seismic activity.
- They are decorated with carving, but no glazed ceramic elements are added, as are seen in other Seljuk portals.
- The inner corners on either side of the entrance feature engaged or, sometimes, free-standing columns
- They have flanking side niches. Small niches on either side of the doorway recess had become standard by the beginning of the 13th century. Their role is unclear. They have the form of a mihrab, but that certainly was not their function. One is tempted to think that they served as mini-seating areas for guards or greeters at the entrance to the hans. The two niches facing each other are identical in form and decoration. All have their own small muqarnas hoods with varying degrees of complexity and number of tiers. These mini-muqarnas hoods are carved from a single, large block of stone, as compared to those of the main door which are carved from several stones.
- Many portals have carved stone roundels, also called rosettes, set into the portal above the cell hood. The roundels can be flat or semi-hemispherical in shape, and decorated with carving or ajouré decoration. The purpose of these roundels is not known, and may have been used as an element to ward away evil or bad luck (such as the blue bead hung over doors in modern Turkish homes), in addition to the decoration. Frequent in the early 13th century, this feature gradually disappears from favor.
- Many han portals have a shallow arch over the entry door, comprised of joggled voussoirs and hooked springing blocks. The use of joggled voussoirs and hooked springing blocks became a signature element of Seljuk architecture. Voussoirs are the wedge-shaped stone building blocks used to build an arch, and joggled voussoirs is a construction method where the stones of the arch are placed in an interlocking scheme.
After entering the main portal, the visitor would pass through a short covered passageway leading into the courtyard. On the courtyard side of the entry, there were often large, windowless and sometimes interconnected rooms used for storage and administrative purposes.