"In the Crusader period (12th-13th centuries) here was the center of the Royal Cathena quarter, the probable site of the "Court of the Chain" which adjudicated cases of maritime commerce, and the internal anchorage of Akko port. On part of this inner harbor, the Ottoman ruler, Ahmed Pasha al-Jezzar, erected in 1784 a sumptuous khan in which he incorporated forty stone columns brought from the ruins of ancient Caesarea and Atlit. These columns gave it the name Khan al-Umdan (the "Hostelry of Columns") where, because of its proximity to the port, merchandise of the maritime import-export trade was stored." from placard at Khan al-Umdan.