In Erzurum a caravanserai of the sixteenth century, bearing the name of Rustem Pasha, is perfectly preserved. It is a large building of two storeys, housing traders and travellers, and was erected about 1560 by the empire's chief architect, Sinan Mimar. A caravanserai is a sort of inn or travelling palace for viziers, sultans, and other important persons.
The donator of the construction was Rustem Pasha - the great son-in-law of Sultan Suleyman I, who was nicknamed "the lucky louse". Rustem Pasha was the grand vizier of Süleyman the Magnificent. He had similar caravanserais built in every corner of the Ottoman Empire.
After a major renovation in 1972, a hotel with one hundred and fifty beds was opened in the caravanserai building, which has seventy-nine rooms with a hammam bath and a very spacious courtyard. The reconstruction of the exterior of the building has, according to experts, been excellently executed, but the the facilities in the rooms themselves are still very far from the present standards.
Currently, there is a covered market for jewellery made of stones and silver, as well as numerous sources of drinking water. This place has long been famous for its water. The Euphrates River flows as far as three versts from the city, but there are many fountains. Each such fountain has a tin ladle hanging on a chain, and "good Muslims drink and do not boast". It's as if nothing has changed here nothing has changed here since ancient times: both the ladles and the chains.
