Many of us do not know what a caravanserai is, although we have heard this phrase many times. It came to our language from the Persian language. You will find information in the article about what “caravanserai” means, how this term appeared, and about everything related to it.
Dictionaries
As described in the dictionaries, a caravanserai is a palace or a large building located on a trade route. Also, this term refers to a large public building in Central Asia and the Middle East, which is located in cities and sparsely populated places. These buildings serve as a parking and resting place for travelers and traders.
Caravanserai is a historical architectural complex located in Orenburg in Russia. It was erected in the middle of the XIX century, and is currently a monument of federal significance.
Description of the building
As mentioned earlier, a caravanserai is a palace or a large building. It is of two types - it is closed and open. Closed most often was built in those places where the caravan route passed, but was also found in cities of varying degrees of population.
Its walls were moderately strong and could withstand a short siege. It differs in a rectangular or square shape of the building. Most often, the caravanserai had an open courtyard, where in its center was a well or other source of water.
Inside the courtyard there were buildings with lounges, as well as warehouses for temporary storage of goods. Be sure to have equipped a special paddock for keeping camels and other pack animals.
Features
As the researchers found out, a caravanserai is not only a complex development for recreation. It has become a feature of the construction plan of almost all buildings in the East. In other words, the caravanserai has become the standard of development.
It had a certain number of isolated "standard" rooms and was located in one or two tiers. All rooms of the "cell" were connected by a single rectangular or square building plan.
Each room was most often divided into two parts. The yard was closed around the perimeter, but the doors of absolutely all the rooms went into it. In large and rich caravanserais, in addition to the well, a pool was equipped, which was very important.
The main room was also facing the courtyard of the caravanserai, which was blocked by a lancet vault in which its owner lived. Merchants who stayed in the caravanserai on vacation stopped in the same building.
Differences
The organization and arrangement of roadside caravanserais and city caravans differed slightly. However, the first walls were much more powerful. This is due to the fact that robbers quite often attacked roadside structures. The fortified walls helped hold the defenses for some time.
Both types of caravanserai in their architecture resembled castles with powerful walls, devoid of openings and massive heavy gates. Naturally, these buildings were not able to withstand the professional army, but they could repel the attack of the robbers.
The main value was that here necessarily had its own source of water. In the Middle East it was called “ovdanam”, and in Central Asia it was called “sardoba”.
Caravanserai in Orenburg
Caravanserai - what is this building in Orenburg? In answering this question, we should turn to history. This building was erected from 1837 to 1846. It was built by the Bashkirs for voluntary donations collected by the residents of the city. It housed the office of the command of the Bashkir-Meshcheryak troops. Also, it was equipped with a hotel for business travelers on official needs.
Currently, this caravanserai is a mosque and Bashkir folk house. This building was erected according to the project of the famous architect of that period A.P. Bryullov. The author conceived it as a stylization for the traditional buildings of Bashkir auls. It is an interesting fact that the main element of the architectural ensemble - the mosque - has an octagonal shape, the same as the Bashkir yurt.
Today the Orenburg Caravanserai is a monument of history and architecture not only of Bashkiria, but also of Russia. The mosque is operational, however, in addition to this, it, like the entire complex, is an urban attraction, which is very popular among tourists.