The Kapan han

The Kapan lodging is one of the few old lodgings preserved in the city. Built in the middle of the 15th century by the famous military leader and the third governor of Skopje, Isa Bey, the Kapan lodging, as other caravanserais built in the great trading centers of the Ottoman Empire, served to accommodate the traders, their caravans as well as their entourage arriving from various places.
The word "kapan" originates from the Arabic word "kabbân" meaning a large weighing machine, a public scale weighting wholesale goods imported from abroad. In bigger neighborhoods, the public warehouses were storing these goods that were later sold to the merchants and artisans. This was the main usage of the trading lodgings, which were well insured and well secured. The public scale (the kapan) was usually placed in the yard of the lodging or in front of it hence why the warehouses in some cities were called kapan-hans or kapans. A cash tax (resm-i kantar) was charged for measuring the goods. The imported goods intended for sale had to be weighed exclusively on the state's scale, and a strict adherence to this measure was required. The oldest source offering information on this building dates from 1467/68, mentioning it as the "Caravanserai of Isa Bey", and in 1506 this building can be found as Kapan lodging. Taking into consideration the size and the significance of Skopje at the end of XV and the beginning  of the XVI century, as well as the connections of the city with the neighboring areas, the existence of few more of these weighting check points in Skopje is not excluded. The lodging had an inner yard with a porch surrounded by 20 rooms on the ground floor and 24 rooms on the first floor. It covered a total area of 1.086 m2 and was built of solid material - alternating layers of stone and brick. The barn housing the cattle was located on the east side of the lodging. 
The dimensions, the way of building, as well as its location speak of the role and the importance this building had in the trading and economic life of Skopje and the Skopje Bazaar in the past. Its location is very convenient even today. Located in the Bazaar itself, almost on its busiest place, the Kapan han alongside with the shops surrounding it remains a special complex in the Bazaar.