Ma'arrat an-Nu'mān

Ma'arrat al-Nu'man stands on the road between Aleppo and Hama, where routes across northern Syria meet. It was the birthplace of the poet and philosopher Abu al-Ala al-Ma'arri and of many other scholars known by the name al-Ma'arri. Its location brought prosperity as well as war: during the First Crusade the town was besieged and captured in 1098, with terrible suffering for its inhabitants.

Under Ottoman rule the road through Ma'arrat continued to carry merchants and pilgrims towards Damascus. In 1566–67 the official Murad Çelebi endowed a large caravanserai in the town. Its courtyard was surrounded by facilities for travellers, with a prayer room and fountain, bath, market and water storage forming part of the complex. The building joined Ottoman architectural forms to local stonework and gave the town a substantial stopping place on the long route south.