The Grand Bazaar // Covered Bazaar, Turkish: Kapalıçarşı ("Covered Bazaar") in Istanbul is one of the largest covered markets in the world with more than 58 streets and 4,000 shops, and has between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily. It is well known for its jewelry, pottery, spice, and carpet shops. Many of the stalls in the bazaar are grouped by type of goods, with special areas for leather coats, gold jewelry and the like. The bazaar contains two bedestens (domed masonry structures built for storage and safe keeping), the first of which was constructed between 1455 and 1461 by the order of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror. The bazaar was vastly enlarged in the 16th century, during the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, and in 1894 underwent a major restoration following an earthquake.
Mısır Çarşısı // Egyptian Bazaar
The Spice Bazaar, (Turkish: ‘Mısır Çarşısı’, Egyptian Bazaar) in Istanbul, Turkey is one of the oldest bazaars in the city. Located in Eminönü, it is the second largest covered shopping complex after the Grand Bazaar. There are different accounts regarding the origin of the name of the bazaar. Various spices from the Orient were offered here in the past, Egyptian Bazaar was so named because the spices used to be imported from Egypt. On the other hand, in the Byzantine period, the site of the Spice Bazaar was the centre of corn trade. And the word mısır has a double meaning in Turkish: “Egypt” and “corn”. The Spice Bazaar was designed by the chief court architect Koca Kasım Ağa, but completed by architect Mustafa in 1660.
Photographs
www.istanbulfotograflari.org
www.wowturkey.com
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