Büyük Han, the Ottoman caravanserai of North Nicosia

Büyük Han is the great Ottoman inn of North Nicosia (Lefkoşa), on the side of the city that lies in the north of Cyprus. You walk to it from the south (ID, insurance and shopping limits are in crossing to Northern Cyprus), and the wider context is in Northern Cyprus. Together with the Selimiye Mosque, it’s what I’d see first in that part of the city.

An inn for merchants

A han, or caravanserai, was an inn where traders slept upstairs and stored or sold their goods downstairs. Büyük Han, the great inn, follows that plan. Two floors of arcades run round a square courtyard with a small mosque in the middle, and OpenStreetMap and Wikipedia agree on 68 rooms and 10 shops.

It fits what Nicosia municipality says about the Ottoman city. After the siege of 1570 Nicosia was left half empty, but it remained the seat of the Pasha and a trading centre, and a building like this was the heart of that trade. The municipality paints a city of citrus gardens and palm trees, entered only through three gates that opened at sunrise and shut at sunset. Nicosia didn’t recover its old splendour until the mid-19th century, when Ottoman rule grew more tolerant.

When was it built?

The sources don’t fully agree, and I’d rather tell you so. OpenStreetMap dates it to 1576 and 1577 and credits Sinan Pasha, governor of Cyprus from 1572 to 1579. English Wikipedia says around 1572 and records doubts between two governors. What’s certain is that it belongs to the 1570s, just after the Ottoman conquest. With no official source to settle it, I’ll stick to the decade.

Wikipedia also says the British used it as Nicosia’s central prison in the late 19th century, after which it went back to being an inn. I mention it as a curiosity, with the same caution.

To sleep close to everything, search places to stay in Nicosia on Expedia and filter by area before price.

What’s inside today

OpenStreetMap describes it today as home to craft shops, art galleries and cultural events. Opening times and prices, though, don’t appear in any citable source. About 80 m away is the smaller Kumarcılar Han, another caravanserai. OpenStreetMap lists both buildings with their Greek and Turkish names, a small reminder that both communities have their own names for the same old streets.

From the Ledra checkpoint to the courtyard

The Ledra Street checkpoint is about 300 m away in a straight line, and the Selimiye Mosque about 160 m. I’d do both in one morning with my passport in my pocket and head back south for lunch. The wider picture of this half of the city is in North Nicosia, and places to stay near the crossing in my guide to hotels in Nicosia.

If you are short on time, see the best tours in Büyük Han and pick one that fits your day.

Where the bus does not go, a car does: compare car hire in Nicosia before you arrive rather than at the desk.

To sleep close to everything, search places to stay in Nicosia on Booking.com and filter by area before price.