Khan Tuman is a large khan is located about fifteen kilometers south of Aleppo

Aleppo

Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...

, on the west bank of the Quweiq River. It was built in 1189 by Ayyubid Emir Tuman Nuri as a rural khan to protect travelers on the trade route linking the Euphrates

Euphrates

The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...

 to the Mediterranean Sea

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

. A second khan was added abutting its southern wall in 1478 by Mamluk

Mamluk

A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...

 Sultan Qaitbey (1468–1496). In 1652 Ipshir Pasha, governor of Aleppo until 1654 consolidated the khans to provide a safer shelter for travelers. Only a portion of the Mamluk

Mamluk

A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...

 khan remains today, after the complex was partly demolished to accommodate the Latakia

Latakia

Latakia, or Latakiyah , is the principal port city of Syria, as well as the capital of the Latakia Governorate. In addition to serving as a port, the city is a manufacturing center for surrounding agricultural towns and villages...

-Aleppo railroad in 1970.

Architecture

The twelfth century khan was built with large stone blocks and consisted of a rectangular courtyard measuring about thirty by twenty meters, surrounded by a vaulted hall on all sides. The southern wing was divided into four sections; the vaulted entry vestibule at center, with a room to its west and a two room mosque with a mihrab to its east. The vaulted hall enveloping the courtyard was accessed through two archways on each courtyard wall, while the room to the west of the entrance was accessed through the entryway and through the courtyard. The mosque was primarily entered from the entry vestibule and also opened onto a small chamber to its east entered from the courtyard. To the north, the hall was roofed with cross vaults resting on rectangular pillars embedded in its northern wall. Its east and west wings were roofed with longitudinal barrel vaults. After the construction of a khan abutting its southern wall, the primary street entrance for the first khan shifted to its northern wall.

Built in 1478 the Mamluk khan was also organized around a courtyard, with rooms accessed through an arcade. It was accessed from its south side through a barrel-vaulted gatehouse projecting into the courtyard.

In 1652, according to an inscription now lost, Ipshir Pasha made several modifications. He constructed waterworks and provided Khan Tuman with a qastal or fountain located in the south khan to the east of the gatehouse. The fountain, which has remained, is two steps down from the courtyard, with an archway supported on two engaged columns in the shape of interlaced ropes. Its operation was supported by the income of a stable, a coffeehouse and two shops built on the second floor of the northern khan, and seventeen rental rooms, built on the second floor of the southern khan. Ipshir Pasha also built arched iwan

Iwan

An iwan is a rectangular hall or space, usually vaulted, walled on three sides, with one end entirely open. The formal gateway to the iwan is called pishtaq, a Persian term for a portal projecting from the facade of a building, usually decorated with calligraphy bands, glazed tilework, and...

s flanked by rooms above the gatehouses of the south and north khans, and paved the prayer hall of the north khan entrance.