Tarihi Payas Köprüsü

Payas became a fortress settlement because it had a place on the “holy road” to Jerusalem during the Crusaders period. Payas, where mainly Turkmen tribes were settled during the Mamluks period, was conquered by the Ottomans as a result of the Mercidâbık War (1516), and it was to connect Istanbul to Hejaz over Anatolia, East Mediterranean and Syria after the Ottoman Empire came under Ottoman rule the following year. While trying to create a road, the routes of old cultures have been reshaped with some corrections. The most important range of this road, which is known as “Anatolian right way, pilgrimage road, Şâm-ı Şerif road”, has been determined as Payas between Adana-Aleppo / Damascus, and a new military and commercial base center has been built. In addition to the comprehensive complex, a new city was established in about ten years with two castles, wharf-customs, shipyards, bridges, mills, service areas, water supply from the mountain and landscaping. It is understood from the information in the inscription, foundation registration and archive materials that the construction of Payas started in 1567, the works were completed in 982 (1574) on a large scale, and it took its final form in the early 1580s. Along with the works built with the personal effort of Sokullu Mehmed Pasha, nomads were placed in the region. It has been stated that the residents will be exempted from various taxes for a while and they are asked to be derbenders in return. Although the number of households that have been settled varies over time, Evliya Çelebi has the number of households XVII. It yields 850 for the mid-century, and the population of the settlement as 8000. It can be said that the design of the complex and other structures was done by the architect and the masters that Mimar Sinan made, by looking at the style of the archive information, architecture and decoration. Today, the complex is 1 km from the city center. in Karacami district, 700 m from the sea. It is located in flat terrain and adjacent to the castle. It is a comprehensive building group consisting of an inn, inn, tabhahane, imaret, hamam, mosque, hankah (madrasah), elementary school, two fountains and bridges spread over a very wide area. The excellence in design and the number of types and types are remarkable. The east of Arastan is divided into inn, imaret and tabhahans, the west is a mosque, hankah, primary school and bath. There is complementarity between the structures in terms of functionality. In the complex, which is generally built with stone-weighted material, the use and decoration of Syrian-effect bicolour stone is encountered. 115 × 15 m in the south-north direction. The old historical road passes through the gap between its dimensions and there are big doors opening to both directions. There are forty-eight shops located opposite each other between the vaulted roof. In the center, the prayer dome is outstanding. The prayer dome provides an architectural orientation towards the castle. There are also crown gates from Arasta that open to the mosque-hankah courtyard with a hammam. 48 × 40 m. Han is the most monumental structure of the complex. The entrance to the inn is provided from the middle with an impressive crown on which an inscription is placed. After the corridor entrance, a very large inner courtyard and porticoes that turn it from three arms except the west and the closed sections behind it are encountered. Seki, hearths and traces of the water system are found. It is stated that a market was established around it in the Ottoman period. Tabanes are located in the western wing of the inn. The rooms, which are separated from the inn by a wall and open to the courtyard with a door, also have a water system. The transition from the inn to the imaret is provided by a corridor. The second entrance is from the east and is for service purposes. Places such as kitchen, bakery, dining hall, cellar and warehouse are placed around the first inner courtyard. The mosque has been kept smaller than the buildings such as the inn, the middle, the imaret, the tabhahane and the bath, as the complex is a complex, and the central section with the domes has been expanded to the sides in the form of an iwan. There is the last congregation place in the north, the minaret, which was later changed, and an inner courtyard with a portico with a fountain in the center. Apart from the mosque, the courtyard was used by hankah. The porticoes are dilapidated.

The caravan and pilgrimage route through Arasta Bazaar (Çarşı) reaches the Payas River after exiting the South Gate. The three-eyed arch bridge Tarihi Payas Köprüsü built on this stream is the part of the Silk Road connected to the Sokullu Mehmet Paşa Külliyesi complex. Arasta is the 115 meter north-south major axis of the Sokullu Mehmet Pasha Range Complex. There are entrances from the north and south of the Arasta, and a west-facing entrance from the center. We visited them on August 26th, 2021 and described them in detail in the "Travel Report Kahramanmaraş Epiphaneia Part 87", with photos and described them as recommendable.