Description of the attraction
In Erzurum, a caravanserai of the sixteenth century, called Rustem Pasha, is perfectly preserved. It is a large two-storey building that housed merchants and travelers and was erected around 1560 by the chief architect of the empire, Sinan Mimar. A caravanserai is a kind of inn or a traveling palace for viziers, sultans, and other important persons.
The donor of the building was Rustem Pasha, the great son-in-law of Sultan Suleiman I, who was nicknamed by the people “the lucky louse”. Rustem Pasha was the grand vizier of Suleiman the Magnificent. By his order, similar caravanserais were built in all corners of the Ottoman Empire.
After a major renovation in 1972, a hotel for one hundred and fifty beds was opened in the building of the caravanserai, which has seventy-nine rooms with a hamam bath and a very spacious courtyard. The reconstruction of the exterior of the building, according to experts, was done perfectly, but the amenities in the rooms themselves are still very far from existing standards.
Currently, near the caravanserai there is an indoor market for jewelry made of stones and silver, as well as numerous sources of drinking water. This place has long been famous for its water. The Euphrates River flows as much as three miles from the city, however, there are many fountains here. Every such fountain has a tin ladle hanging on a chain, and "good Muslims drink and do not boast." It seems that nothing has changed here since ancient times: both the ladles and the chains.
