Frankish caravanserai

Acceding to power in 1591, Emir Fakhr Al-Din (1572-1635), Lord of Lebanon, made Saida his winter capital. A great builder, driven by the desire to develop trade with Europe, he endowed the city with new infrastructures: palaces, fortifications and caravanserais. In particular he ordered, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, the construction of this khan which he put at the disposal of the French merchants. At the end of the sixteenth century, the introduction of crops destined for trade such as cotton and tobacco contributed to the increased trade and commercial expansion of the port. In 1660, the city acquired the rank of provincial capital. Supplanting Tripoli, abandoned by the European merchants, Saida became a properous and influential port for nearly two centuries, until the expulsion in 1791 of the French by the new Pasha of the city, Ahmad Al-Jazzar.

The building is called "Khan Al-Franj", meaning "caravanserai of the French (or Frankish)", because the merchants, missionaries and diplomats from Europe established themselves there. It served as residence to the Consul of France, to the Franciscan Fathers and then as an orphanage. It was heavily damaged during the ninteenth century by fires, earthquakes and bombardments.

Of the two caravanserais that survived in Saida, Khan Al-Franj is the largest with the best installations. The main entrance, accessible from the sea, is located on the north side. On the south side, a secondary entrance opens onto the market square. The square khan has a large central courtyard, surrounded by two floors of galleries, half of them covered by barrel vaults, the other half by groined vaults. Thirty-six rooms open out onto this gallery, each with a wooden bowed door and a window with a straight lintel made up of three arch stones. The rooms on both the ground floor and the upper level are covered by ribbed vaults, except those at the corners, which are covered with both barrel vaults and groined vaults. In the east section of the ground floor there is a stable, it being the largest  room of the building with three rows of groined vaults. The caravanserai includes two annexes, a church and a school, built in the ninteenth century.

The architecture of Khan Al-Franj falls within the tradition of the urban khan, which were used as merchandise warehouses and residences by the merchants, and present the same architectural elements: a large rectangular courtyard surrounded by two floors of identical rooms opening onto arcaded galleries with vaults or ceilings. The khan was used as a residence by merchants and consuls in Alep, where Occidental foreigners and consuls, primarily associated with commercial activity, were required to stay in the caravanserai[1]. From the seventeenth century, they took up residence there with their families and transformed the architecture of the upper-floor premises into comfortable and luxurious apartments; at the end of the ninteenth century, they had established chapels, convents and schools. Contrary to Alep, Saida only had two of these establishments, and evidence of their occupation has all but disappeared.

[1] Damascus, Khân As‘ad Pacha.