GRAND BAZAAR
1. Grand Bazaar has 64 avenues and streets, and 16 caravansaries.
2. There are 22 gates.
3. It is built on an area of 45.000 m2 with 36.000 m2
4. 97 different varieties of products are sold
6. There is one infirmary
7. There is one police station
8. All the banks have their branch offices
9. There is a Post Office.
10.It has its own security team
11.The number of visiting customers change between 250.000- 400.000
12.97 different products are sold on our market (Carpets, Leatherwork, Silverware, Gold objects, Ceramics, Textile products, Souvenirs, Copperware, Marble, Handbags, Kilims, Fabrics etc.
GRAND BAZAAR
After the conquest of Constantinople by Mohammed the Conqueror, he ordered bazaars, shops, caravansarais, houses and mosques to be built.
The covered bazaars built for selling fabric were called “Bedesten” in the East. Later all sorts of valuable objects were started to be sold here.
The Bedesten built at Conqueror’s time, near the old palace was later called “Ancient Bedesten”, “Internal Bedesten” or “ Bedesten of Cevahir” . “The Covered Bazaar” or “The new Bedesten”was built a little further. One of its streets was allocated for cotton products and the other was allocated for a type of fabric woven with silk called “sandal” That’s why it was called also “ Sandal Bedesteni” Both of the Bedestens have the characteristics of the Conqueror’s era.
The rich people and the merchants could keep their jewels and other object of gold and silver
iIn small safes in the Bedesten by paying a small fee.
In the Bedesten there were all sorts of jewels, gold, arms, precious fabric, shawls, carpets and all types of precious objects. The merchants of this market were the richest ones of the whole town.
The Grand Bazaar was repaired several times and after the earthquake of 1894 it was thoroughly restored. After the second half of the 19 th Century when European textile products were imported in our country at a large scale , the trade of local hand woven articles
was badly impeded and later as the banks started to open their branch offices here, Bedesten ceased its banking facilities.
The old Bedesten started to give service for the sales of jewels, carpets, antic object as
“the Sandal Bedesteni” ceased its activities. In 1914 the municipality of Istanbul acquired this space and converted it to a place public auctions took place. Later for one reason or another this was discontinued, however the auctions helped to reveal many beautiful things.
Everybody still waits for the auction days.
The Grand Bazaar that reflects our life in the past, was depicted in the books of the foreign travelers, or in the foreign paintings as if it is the “Tales of one thousand and one nights”
There are over 3000 shops in the Grand Bazaar, and it is visited by 250.000-400.000 customers everyday depending on the season. Many professions which are almost extinct today are kept alive by its own peculiar culture . It is the oldest and greatest place in the world so many different types of products are exhibited. The new shopping malls are a requisite of the modern ages but they cannot effect the Grand Bazaar thanks to its architecture and cultural structure. Furthermore in the Grand Bazaar, you can find so many different articles at much lower price than many other places.
Grand Bazaar is the oldest bank of the world. It is the oldest and greatest covered bazaar of the world. Once upon a time it owned the most mysterious and magnificent treasures of the world
OUR GRAND BAZAAR is the eighth wonder of the world but with its history and culture it does not only belong to us but it is a property of the world.
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