Vezir Hanı: An Ottoman Inn in Istanbul
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.4
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Turkey
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Ottoman
- Site type
- Economic
- Remains
- Caravanserai
History
Vezir Hanı is an Ottoman han, or commercial inn, in Istanbul, Türkiye, built in 1659–60 on the initiative of Fazıl Ahmet Paşa as part of the Köprülü Külliyesi, an Ottoman religious and charitable complex with supporting institutions and facilities. Its completion date is preserved in an inscription associated with the building.
The inn housed nineteen rooms used by Istanbul’s settled Catholic Georgians for people arriving from Georgia. The rooms belonged to the Bomonti Georgian Catholic Church, but they were registered in the name of Madam Lusi Köçeoğlu. The First World War, poor administration, and the continuing ownership dispute eventually caused the rooms to pass out of the church’s possession.
The 1894 earthquake destroyed two of the rooms completely and damaged six others. Vezir Hanı remains active. The building stands in the Molla Fenari area of Fatih, and the street on which it is located takes its name from the han.
Remains
Vezir Hanı survives as an inn-type urban building associated with the commercial landscape of Ottoman Istanbul. Its documented arrangement included nineteen rooms connected with the Catholic Georgian community, giving the building a defined communal lodging function within the wider Köprülü complex. The completion inscription links the surviving structure to its 1659–60 construction period.
The building is in Istanbul’s Çemberlitaş quarter, within Fatih district. An Istanbul guide to hans lists it as “Vezir Han” and places it in Nuruosmaniye. The rooms affected by the 1894 earthquake form part of the building’s later physical history, while the han continues to function as an active building.
