Turkic Atlas

← Back to the encyclopedia

BMonumentPartially recognized

Büyük Han

An Ottoman caravanserai built in Nicosia in 1572 — the largest and finest on the island.

Büyük Han, North Nicosia
Michal Klajban / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Büyük Han ("Great Inn") was built in 1572, a year after the Ottomans took Cyprus from the Venetians: a two-storey building of rooms set around a wide courtyard.

A small mosque with an ablution fountain stands in the middle of the courtyard, and under British rule the building served as the city's first prison.

Restored in the 1990s, it is now a lively arts centre with galleries, workshops, cafés and souvenir shops.

Sources

  1. Wikipedia

Updated: October 3, 2026

Related entries

Share this