Han · 15th century · Museum of the Old Bazaar
A 15th-century han rebuilt after 1963, now the Museum of the Old Bazaar and the Faculty of Fine Arts.
These are the stories you can open in the 3D view, each at its own numbered point on the model.
Suli An is a city han, an inn for merchants, built in the first half of the 15th century by Ishak Bey as part of the endowment of his mosque.
Under his son Isa Bey it was already recorded as the “old han”. The building is almost square, about 40 metres a side, round a paved court.
Suli means “of water”. The han took its name from the Serava, a stream that flowed nearby. The bazaar spread from Kale down to the Serava.
Just outside its west entrance stands the Bezisten, the covered market, so the han sat in the busiest part of the bazaar.
The ground floor is a deep arcade of round arches on heavy stone piers. The arches are built of alternating brick and stone.
The walls are of cut stone blocks, with bands of three brick courses running through them. The white upper floor above the arches belongs to the reconstruction of 1972.
In the 16th century shops opened on both floors of the han, and many of them were run by Jewish merchants.
As a han it gave travellers 54 rooms on the upper floor, while the ground floor was kept for their animals. In all, the building covers about 2,100 square metres.
Suli An burnt in the fire of 1689 and was rebuilt. The earthquake of 1963 damaged it again, and it was reconstructed in 1972.
The upper floor you see today belongs to that reconstruction: a glazed gallery set back behind white square piers, under a hipped roof of red tiles with wide eaves.
Today Suli An houses the Museum of the Old Bazaar, a branch of the Museum of the City of Skopje, and the Faculty of Fine Arts.
Opening hours change; check them with the Museum of the City of Skopje before you go.
The court is paved with pale stone slabs, with a few trees and planters. Round it run the arcades of the ground floor, where the travellers’ animals were once kept.
The lanes of shops are only a few steps away, beyond the west entrance.
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