Büyük Valide Han

The Büyük Valide Han is recognizable by its massive, weathered stone walls and a series of expansive courtyards that once formed the heart of Istanbul’s seventeenth-century merchant trade. Founded in sixteen fifty-one by Kösem Valide Sultan, the mother of two Ottoman sultans, this sprawling structure served as a caravanserai where thousands of travelers, pack animals, and merchants stayed each night. The ground floor provided shelter for livestock, while the upper galleries housed wholesale offices and lodgings for traders arriving from across the empire.