Grand Bazaar

The Grand Bazaar, known in Turkish as the Kapalicarsi or covered market, lies in the Fatih district of Istanbul's historic peninsula, between the Beyazit and Nuruosmaniye mosques. Sultan Mehmed II ordered its core built soon after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, and the first building was completed around 1461.

The market grew around two domed stone halls, or bedestens, where valuable goods such as jewellery, weapons and textiles were stored and traded under guard. Streets of shops, inns and workshops spread around them, and by the 16th century the whole area had been roofed over. Earthquakes and fires damaged it several times, most seriously in 1894, after which it was rebuilt.

Today the bazaar covers about 61 covered streets with more than 4,000 shops. Traders are still grouped by craft in many lanes, selling carpets and kilims, gold and silver jewellery, ceramics, lamps, leather goods, textiles and antiques. The old Cevahir Bedesten at the centre remains the place for jewellery and antiques, and courtyard inns called hans still hold workshops.

Bargaining is expected in most shops, although some have fixed prices. Several tea and coffee houses inside the bazaar make good places to rest, and the Nuruosmaniye gate leads out toward the Cemberlitas area and the Sultanahmet sights.

Entry is free. The bazaar is closed on Sundays and on the first day of religious holidays, and its gates open from 9 am to 7 pm on other days. The Beyazit-Kapalicarsi stop on the T1 tram line is beside the Beyazit gate. Weekday mornings are the least crowded.

Gates, shops and daily crowds in numbers

The Grand Bazaar covers about 30,700 square metres and is closed off by 18 gates. Estimates of its shops range from 3,000 to more than 4,000, as there are no official figures, and about 26,000 people work there. Between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors pass through on a busy day, and in 2014 it was listed as the world's most visited tourist attraction, with about 91 million visits a year.

The older Iç Bedesten has four gates named after the trades once found beside them: the second-hand booksellers, the skullcap sellers, the jewellers and the women's clothiers. The second covered hall, the Sandal Bedesten, measures about 40 by 42 metres, with 12 stone piers holding up 20 domed bays. The city bought it in 1914, and from 1915 it served as an auction house, mainly for carpets.

After the 1894 earthquake, repairs lasted until 1898 and left the market smaller, with only nine of its hans inside the perimeter. Fires in 1943 and 1954 followed, and restoration after the second was completed on 28 July 1959. An 1890 survey counted a mosque, a hamam, 19 fountains, 10 madrasas and 24 hans in the complex. Zincirli Han, a former caravanserai, still houses jewellery workshops.