Kürkçü Hanı, Istanbul

"The Kürkçü Hanı, or Han of the Furriers, is part of Mahmut Pasha's foundation, built at about the same time as his mosque, which makes it the oldest han in the city. The furriers for whom it is named still keep their shops just inside the entrance, and Evliya Çelebi, describing the great guild procession held by Murat IV in 1636, records that the furriers had their shops in this han." ¹

'Originally it consisted of two large courtyards. The first, nearly square at 45 by 40 metres, had about 45 rooms on each of its two floors with a small mosque at the centre, now replaced by a modern block of flats. The second courtyard to the north was smaller and very irregularly shaped because of the adjoining streets, with about 30 rooms per floor; it is now almost completely ruined and the rest dilapidated.' ²