Koza Han

Koza Han was built in 1491 by Bayezid II as a han - a merchants' inn with storage below and rooms above - and its trade was silk. Bursa sat at the western end of the road that brought raw silk from Iran, and the cocoon market held in this courtyard was the centre of it; for centuries growers brought cocoons here each June and dealers bid on them, and a much-reduced version of that market still happens. The building is two storeys of arcaded galleries around a square courtyard, with a small octagonal mosque raised on piers over a fountain in the middle. The ground floor is now shops selling silk scarves, towels and textiles, and the courtyard under its plane trees is filled with tea tables that are among the pleasantest places to sit in the city. It is part of the UNESCO-listed historic centre, together with the Ulu Cami, the bazaar and the surrounding hans.

History

Bursa, the first Ottoman capital, was the empire's centre of silk production and trade, and in the 14th to 16th centuries its market district filled with hans, covered bazaars and a bedesten, at least 13 of which survive. Sultan Bayezid II ordered the Koza Han, the inn of the silk cocoon, beside the old Orhan Gazi Mosque in February or March 1490; it was built by the architect Abdul Ula bin Pulad Shah, opened in September 1491, and its income went to the upkeep of Bayezid's mosque complex in Istanbul. The agent of the Medici of Florence had his office here in the early 16th century, it has stayed a centre of the silk trade, and it was restored in 1630, 1671 and 1784 (Wikipedia, Koza Han).

What you'll find

• The arcaded courtyard - two storeys of galleries around the square.
• The courtyard mosque - the small octagonal masjid on piers.
• The tea tables - seating under the plane trees.
• The silk shops - scarves and textiles in the ground-floor cells.

When to go

April to June and September to October. Mornings for quiet; June for what remains of the cocoon trade. Shops close on Sundays, though the tea garden stays open.

Things to know

Much of the silk sold is not local and some is not silk - ask, and check prices against elsewhere. The courtyard is busy at midday. It is a shopping han, not a museum.

Nearby

Ulu Cami is next door; the covered bazaar and the other hans surround it.

Key facts