Caravanserai · 16th century
The largest surviving caravanserai, a 16th-century court of two-storey arcades under small lead-roofed domes.
These are the stories you can open in the 3D view, each at its own numbered point on the model.
Kuršumli An is the largest of the three caravanserais that survive in the Old Bazaar. Merchants and their animals stayed here, round a closed courtyard, almost square, about 45 by 42 metres.
It dates from the 16th century. The Macedonian Wikipedia names its founder as Mula Musledin Hodža, a court scholar of Sultan Selim II, around 1550, possibly on older foundations.
The name means the lead-covered inn. The roof is made of rows of small, slightly rounded pyramidal domes, once covered in lead.
Tall chimneys rise between them. From the street, the outer walls of stone and brick are almost blank: the han turned its back to the town and opened onto its court.
Round the court run two storeys of arcades. Below, square stone piers carry round arches; above, slimmer stone supports carry a second row.
Look at the arches: their wedge-shaped stones, the voussoirs, alternate between pale stone and red brick. A stone cornice runs between the two floors.
The ground floor held storerooms for goods and stables, by one account for a hundred horses.
Travellers slept upstairs, in rooms that open off the gallery round the court. Of the three hans that survive in the bazaar, this is the largest; the others are Suli An and Kapan An.
The main entrance is on the south side, under a domed porch.
Kuršumli An worked as a han until 1787 and then became a prison. Macedonian revolutionaries were held here after the Vinica affair of 1897. From 1904 to 1914 it was a han once more.
In the middle of the court stands an octagonal stone fountain basin, among grass, a stone-paved path and a tall conifer.
The han stands in the grounds of the Museum of Macedonia and has served as a summer stage for concerts. The 1963 earthquake destroyed the mosque that was attached to it and most of its bath house.
The galleries have been used as the lapidarium of the Museum of Macedonia: a collection of carved stones, such as tombstones, column drums and capitals.
Opening has been irregular. OpenStreetMap, checked in July 2026, marks the museum use as disused, so check before you plan a visit inside.
Typical prices are our estimates for orientation, not menu prices. Check opening hours on the spot.
Walk around the model, switch between day and night, and hear each story read aloud in English, Macedonian or Turkish.
Open in 3D