page_title: Koza Han
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Koza Han / History
caption_attribution_description: Kozahan -silk bazaar-Main gate-
context_page_description: The Koza Han is a historic caravanserai in Bursa, Turkey. It is located in the heart of the city's historic market district.
context_section_description: Bursa, the first capital of the Ottoman Empire, was also its center of silk production and trade. Particularly in the 14th to 16th centuries, a large number of commercial structures such as hans (caravanserais), bazaars (covered markets), and a bedesten were built in the city center, forming a major zone of economic activity. (At least 13 of these structures have survived today despite numerous earthquakes.) It is here, next to the old Orhan Gazi Mosque, that Sultan Bayezid II ordered the construction of the Koza Han in February or March of 1490. The architect was a man named Abdul Ula Bin Pulad Shah, and the building opened in September 1491. Through the waqf system, the revenues of the han were earmarked to finance the upkeep of Bayezid's mosque complex in Istanbul.
  As a caravanserai, the han provided lodging for foreign merchants, storage for their animals and goods, housing for the workshops of craftsmen, and/or offices for conducting business. The Koza Han was one of the largest and most important examples in Bursa. In the early 16th century the commercial agent of the Medicis of Florence had his office in this building. It continued to be a center of silk trade throughout its history, with expensive silk shops still present in the building today, although the industry is no longer as prominent today. In addition to silk textiles, its trade also included the production and sale of silk cocoons themselves (hence its name). The han has also undergone numerous restorations and repairs, including in 1630, 1671 and 1784. The small mosque at its center was most recently restored in 1946 and in 2007. Queen Elizabeth II visited the han in the company of Turkish President Abdullah Gül in 2008. Today the han also holds a cafés and tea gardens.
caption: The entrance portal of the han
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