The Kumarjilar (Kumarcilar) Khan (Han) in Nicosia
THE GAMBLERS' INN

From the newspaper cuttings above and the pictures in the photobook (December 2005) it will be clear that the description of the building below is just for the record. - Hans Doeleman

During Ottoman times two large 'Khans' (Han or Inn) were built in in the centre of old Nicosia and they give the town a certain oriental air. The smaller of the two is now called the "Gamblers' Inn" (Kumarcilar or Kumarjilar Khan or Han); Jeffery (1918) however mentions the name of this han as "Kiumachela", the "Khan of the itinerant musicians". The building is not in any sense een architectural monument although it must be considered an important public building. The entrance used to be under a moulded arch, but the remainder of the building is of the usual deplorable character which often results from the use of secondhand materials.

The Ottoman structure was constructed towards the end of the 17th century. The shape and proportion of the ornamented Gothic arch at the entrance are not compatible with the other arches in the building and they are contrary to Ottoman architectural style. It is therefore suggested that this arch might have belonged to another building - possibly a Lusignan monastery - which used to be at the same site. The building has been constructed with a rectangular design; it has two storeys and no mosque. The travellers would stay in the rooms on the upper floor and their animals and belongings would be kept in the rooms on the ground floor.

This small building, asymmetrical in plan, of hewn stone, is on Asmaalti Square in Nicosia, to the north-east of the Buyuk Han (Khan). This inn, too, is typical of an Ottoman inner-city commercial inn. It is now privately owned; also read the newspaper cutting above.

In the past the Gamblers' Inn was also known as the Himarcilar or Kemancilar (violinists' or Fiddlers' Inn) inn. It is two-storyed, ranged around a courtyard garden and entered through an arched passage from Asmaalti Square. The main gate is not original and is a late repair. There is a second monumental carved gate inside the passage which is clearly Medieval and not of the Ottoman period, so one concludes that the inn stands on the foundations of a Medieval structure. The irregularly-shaped inner court is surrounded by rooms leading off arcades or galleries on both floors. Though the inn had originally approximately 52 rooms, the number at the present day is 44.

On the ground level the galleries have stone floors and wooden beams, with pointed arched opening seated on square shafts. Segmental arched doors lead into the inner rooms. Each room has an embrasure window opening externally. A modern stair in the south-east of the courtyard leads to the upper storey, where the floor is marble.

The prentice roof on wooden rafters is covered by ridge tiles. Unlike the lower gallery, the upper one has no arches but instead round columns on which the roof joists are seated. The rooms leading off the galleries have barrel vaults and segmental arched doorways. In some rooms there are fireplaces. Here too the floors are marble, and the outer windows are rectangular.

Columns and arches on both floors of the wing to the south are not original, being the result of later repairs. Nor is the western front in an indiscriminate manner, the entrance doors from the courtyard at ground level were closed and external openings were substituted. In spite of these many alterations and the resulting losses, the inn is still a leading example of an old Turkish monument, both in scale and in architecture.