The Samsara was the lodging-house-and-warehouse of the medieval Islamic city — a two- or three-storey courtyard building where caravan merchants stabled their animals on the ground floor, stored their goods on the middle floor, and slept on the top. Several survive within Sana'a's old quarter; Samsarat al-Nahas (the Copper Caravanserai) is the most easily visited, restored by the Yemeni-German cultural cooperation in the 1990s.
The arcaded courtyard now hosts occasional exhibitions and cultural events, and the building gives the clearest sense available of how trade actually worked in the medieval city. The Suq al-Nahas (copper-workers' market) outside still produces the kettles and trays for which Sana'a is known.