The Caravanserais

Typical buildings of Persian culture

The Caravanserai It is a building usually consisting of a wall enclosing a large courtyard and a portico. It was used as a rest stop for caravans crossing the desert.

It could also include rooms for wayfarers used freely by travellers. Many of them also had libraries, and especially in the evening there was the opportunity for deep cultural exchanges between people from different latitudes. All this favored the development of Central Asian culture, but above all the diffusion of ideas between the two ends of the world.

Typical of Persian culture, however, many examples can also be seen in North Africa and throughout the Middle and Near East. Many of these structures were built by master engineers belonging to Sufi orders who applied the principles of golden geometry and the perfect ratio of proportions, as was done for mosques. 

Today many old caravanserais have been transformed into modern accommodation facilities.
Source. Wikipedia