The Grand Bazaar (, meaning ‘Covered Market’; also , meaning ‘Grand Market’Müller-Wiener (1977), p. 345.) in Istanbul is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with 61 covered streets and over 4,000 shopsMüller-Wiener (1977), p. 349.As of 2012, there is no official statistics about the number of shops in Bazaar. This oscillates between 3,000 and 4,000. on a total area of 30,700 m2, attracting between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily. In 2014, it was listed No.1 among the world's most-visited tourist attractions with 91,250,000 annual visitors. The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is often regarded as one of the first shopping malls of the world.
Location
The Grand Bazaar is located inside the walled city of Istanbul, in the district of Fatih and in the neighbourhood () bearing the same name (). It stretches roughly from west to east between the mosques of Beyazit and of Nuruosmaniye. The Bazaar can easily be reached from Sultanahmet and Sirkeci by trams (Beyazıt-Kapalıçarşı stop).
History
The construction of the future Grand Bazaar's core started during the winter of 1455/56, shortly after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople and was part of a broader initiative to stimulate economic prosperity in Istanbul.İnalcık, H. and Quataert, D., An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, 1300–1914. Cambridge University Press, 1994, p. 14 Sultan Mehmed II had an edifice erected devoted to the trading of textilesEyice (1955), p. 26. and jewels near his palace in Constantinople. It was named ("Bedesten of Gems") and was also known as ("New Bedesten") in Ottoman Turkish. The word is adapted from the Persian word bezestan, derived from bez ("cloth"), and means "bazaar of the cloth sellers".Mantran (1998), p. 177 The building – named alternately in Turkish ("Internal"), ("Ancient"), or ("Old") Bedesten – lies on the slope of the third hill of Istanbul, between the ancient Fora of Constantine and of Theodosius. It was also near the first sultan's palace, the Old Palace (), which was also in construction in those same years, and not far from the Artopoleia (in Greek) (), the city's bakers' quarter in Byzantine times.Janin (1964), p. 95.
The construction of the Bedesten ended in the winter of 1460/61, and the building was endowed to the waqf of the Hagia Sophia Mosque. Analysis of the brickwork shows that most of the structure originates from the second half of the 15th century, although a Byzantine relief representing a Comnenian eagle, still enclosed on the top of the East Gate () of the Bedesten has been used by several scholars as proof that the edifice was a Byzantine structure.
In a market near the Bedesten, named in Turkish , the slave trade was active, a use also carried over from Byzantine times. Other important markets in the vicinity were the second-hand market (), the "Long Market" (), corresponding to the Greek Makros Embolos (, "Long Portico"), a long porticoed mall stretching downhill from the Forum of Constantine to the Golden Horn, which was one of the main market areas of the city,Mamboury (1953), p. 212 while the old book market () was moved from the Bazaar to the present picturesque location near the Beyazid Mosque only after the 1894 Istanbul earthquake.
Some years laterGülersoy (1980), p. 8—according to other sources,Müller-Wiener (1977), p. 346. this occurred in 1545 under Sultan Suleiman I—Mehmed II had another covered market built, the "Sandal Bedesten" (the name comes from a kind of thread woven in Bursa, which had the colour of sandalwoodGülersoy (1980) p. 29), also named ("Little"), or (both words meaning "New") Bedesten, which lay north of the first.
After the erection of the Sandal Bedesten the trade in textiles moved there, while the was reserved for the trade in luxury goods. At the beginning the two buildings were isolated. According to the 16th-century French traveller Pierre Gilles, between them and the Mosque of Beyazid stood the ruins of churches and a large cistern. However, soon many sellers opened their shops between and around them, so that a whole quarter was born, devoted exclusively to commerce.
At the beginning of the 17th century the Grand Bazaar had already achieved its final shape. The enormous extent of the Ottoman Empire in three continents, and the total control of road communications between Asia and Europe, rendered the Bazaar and the surrounding hans or caravanserais the hub of the Mediterranean trade. According to several European travelers, at that time, and until the first half of the 19th century, the market was unrivaled in Europe with regards to the abundance, variety and quality of the goods on sale. At that time we know from European travelers that the Grand Bazaar had a square plan, with two perpendicular main roads crossing in the middle and a third road running along the outer perimeter. In the Bazaar there were 67 roads (each bearing the name of the sellers of a particular good), several squares used for the daily prayers, 5 mosques, 7 fountains, 18 gates which were opened each day in the morning and closed in the evening. Around 1638 the Turkish traveller Evliya Çelebi gave us the most important historical description of the Bazaar and of its customs. The number of shops amounted to 3,000, plus 300 located in the surrounding hans, large caravanserais with two or three stories round a porticoed inner courtyard, where goods could be stored and merchants could be lodged.Gülersoy (1980) p. 17 In that period one tenth of the shops of the city were concentrated in the market and around it. For all that, at that time the market was not yet covered.
Recurrent calamities, fires and earthquakes hit the Grand Bazaar. The first fire occurred in 1515; another in 1548. Other fires ravaged the complex in 1588, 1618 (when the was destroyed), 1645, 1652, 1658, 1660 (on that occasion the whole city was devastated), 1687, 1688 (great damage occurred to the ) 1695, and 1701.Müller-Wiener (1977), p. 348. The fire of 1701 was particularly fierce, forcing Grand Vizier Nevşehirli Damad Ibrahim Pasha to rebuild several parts of the complex in 1730–1731. In 1738 the Kızlar Ağası Beşir Ağa endowed the Fountain (still existing) near Mercan Kapı.
In this period, because of the new law against fires issued in 1696, several parts of the market which lay between the two Bedesten were covered with vaults. Despite that, other fires ravaged the complex in 1750 and 1791. The quake of 1766 caused more damages, which were repaired by the Court Chief Architect () Ahmet a year later.
The 19th-century growth of the textile industry in western Europe, introduction of mass production methods, the capitulations signed between the Empire and many European countries, and the forestalling – always by European merchants – of the raw materials needed to produce goods in the Empire's closed economy, were factors which caused the Market's decline.Gülersoy (1980), p. 31 By 1850, rents in Bedesten were ten times lower than two to three decades before.Gülersoy (1980), p. 30 Moreover, the birth of a West-oriented bourgeoisie and the commercial success of Western products pushed the merchants belonging to the minorities (Greek, Armenian, Jewish) into moving out of the Bazaar, perceived as antiquated, and into opening new shops in quarters frequented by Europeans, such as Pera and Galata.Gülersoy (1980) p. 41
According to an 1890 survey, in the Bazaar there were 4,399 active shops, 2 bedesten, 2195 rooms, 1 hamam, one mosque, 10 medrese, 19 fountains (among them two şadırvan and one sebil), one mausoleum and 24 han. In the 30.7 hectares of the complex, protected by 18 gates, there are 3,000 shops along 61 streets, the 2 bedesten, 13 han (plus several more outside).
The last major catastrophe happened in 1894: a strong earthquake that rocked Istanbul. The Minister of Public Works, Mahmud Celaleddin Pasha, supervised the repair of the damaged Bazaar until 1898, and on this occasion the complex was reduced in area. To the west, the Bit Pazarı was left outside the new perimeter and became an open-sky road, named Çadırcılar Caddesi ("Tentmaker Road"), while the old gate and the Kütkculer Kapi were demolished. Among all the hans which belonged to the Market, many were left outside, and only nine remained enclosed in the structure.
In 1914 the Sandal Bedesten, whose handlers of textile goods had been ruined by the European competition, was acquired by the city of Istanbul and, starting one year later, was used as an auction house, mainly for carpets. In 1927 the individual parts of the bazaar and the streets got official names. The last fires of the bazaar happened in 1943 and 1954, and the related restorations were finished on 28 July 1959.Gülersoy (1980) p. 13
The last restoration of the complex took place in 1980. On that occasion, advertising posters around the market were also removed.
Architecture
The Iç Bedesten has a rectangular plan (43.30 m x 29.50 m). Two rows of stone piers, four in each row, sustain three rows of bays, five in each row. Each bay is surmounted by a brick dome with blind drum. In the inner and in the outer walls have been built 44 cellars (), vaulted rooms without external openings. The sunlight in Bedesten comes from rectangular windows placed right under the roof: they can be accessed through a wooden ambulatory. Due to the scarce illumination, the edifice was kept open only some hours each day, and was devoted to the trade of luxury goods, above all textiles. Moreover, the Bedesten's Mahzen were also used as safes. The building can be accessed through four gates: "Second-hand Book Sellers' Gate" () in the north, "Skullcap Sellers' Gate" () in the south, "Jewellers' Gate" () in the east, and; "Women's Clothiers' Gate" () in the west.Gülersoy (1980), p. 14
The Sandal Bedesten has also a rectangular plan (40.20 m × 42.20 m), with 12 stone piers bearing 20 bays surmounted by brick domes with blind drum. In this case shops are carved only in the outer walls.Eyice (1955), p. 27. In both edifices, each bay is tied to the others through brick arches tied by juniper beams, and masonry is made with rubble. Both buildings were closed by iron gates.
Aside from the bedestens, originally the Grand Bazaar structures were built with wood, and only after the 1700 fire, they were rebuilt in stone and brickwork, and covered. All the bazaar edifices, except the fur dealers market (), a later addition which is two-story, are one story.Gülersoy (1980), p. 15 The roofs are mainly covered with tiles, while the part burnt in 1954 uses now tarmac. In the bazaar no artificial light was foreseen, also to prevent fires, and smoking was strictly prohibited. The roads outside the inner Bedesten are roughly parallel to it. The damages caused by the many fires and quakes along the centuries, together with the repairs done without a general plan, gave to the market – especially in its western part – a picturesque appearance, with its maze of roads and lanes crossing each other at various angles.
Social history of the Grand Bazaar