Architectural Characteristics of the Islamic Caravanserais Case Study: Khanalwakalah in the City of Nablus

This study discusses the subject of Islamic caravansaries and sheds light on the architectural components of the Khan-al-Wakalah building in Nablus -one of the model Ottoman caravansaries in Palestine- It aims to collect and analyze more information on the Khan-al-Wakalah. This building is at the center of attention for Palestinians, because it will be re-used as a commercial center after the restoration works of the municipality of Nablus are completed. As a comprehensive historical study of the Khan-al-Wakalah does not exist, any supplementary information reached by this study may be of interest to the institutions working on the project. The study compares the original architectural components of the Khan-al-Wakalah -before the earthquake of 1927– with those components of other Islamic caravansaries. The objective is to examine whether these components meet Islamic standards for building caravanserais at the Ottoman period or not. The study concludes that most of the architectural characteristics of the Khan-al-Wakalah match the general standards of Islamic khans which were built inside cities, as it does not contain defense walls or other services that used to be found in caravanserais which were built outside cities. However, some of its components have distinctive shapes, cause of the nature of the site where Khan-al-Wakalah was built. One especially the shape of the courtyard which proves to be irregular, contrary to what is common in most other regular courtyards of Islamic khans.