Some call it the Covered Bazaar. Why call it covered? Could it be because the whole bazaar is covered with a roof? Or is it that the place is covered with a cloak of Oriental mystery and mysticism? Could it also be that the traditions of the bazaar do not allow the secret codes of the merchants to be uncovered by outsiders? Whatever the reason be for its 'covered'ness, its innumarable doors have been wide open -except for times of fires and earthquakes- for over five centuries. Kapalıçarşı is the only institution, although slightly eroded in its traditions, to reach our days in flesh and blood from the glorious days of the Ottomans. No matter how wide open its doors be, Kapalıçarşı -due to its mystic and mysterious reflections- is still regarded as a tightly sealed box whose secrets need to be uncovered.
It is the intention of this magazine to open that lid and uncover the beauties which still lie in this box.

Emine Çaykara glances into the near past of the Bazaar while Füsun Saka observes its present days.

The Grand Bazaar does not find it difficult
to adopt itsself to our rapidly changing world.
The customers' changing demands must always be met. But the Bazaar's attachment to its past never diminishes. Here we look at the past of the place.

Semsettin ?engör was born in 1930. He has been in the Grand Bazaar since the age of six, living amongst the smell of the carpets. He cheerfully welcomes every customer at the doorstep of his shop. Shaking hands with a broad smile on his face, he listens to every customer with patiance, trying to understand their needs, treating them as if they are guests at his home. There is no hustle or bustle; time goes on with ease.
The ?engör family has been in carpet business for four generations now. Grandfather Cemal Aga has immigrated from Prizren, Kosovo, to Uşak, west of Turkey in the 1910's. In 1918 the family was already working in the Grand Bazaar. The family is Anatolian in their origins: They had immigrated to Kosovo from Kastamonu, -a town near the Black Sea- during the 1650's. Over their long period of stay at Kosovo they had specialised in all types of handicrafts -carpets in particular- of the Balkans. Decades later they were to find themselves back in Anatolia and eventually Istanbul.
"In the past, the wealthy people used to buy their carpets only from Grand Bazaar. Our customers were mostly the Turkish people then. Foreign customers were only employees of embassies and staffs of foreing schools." explains ?emsettin Bey.
In old days ?emsettin Bey used to call Jewish friends like Rafael, Sabetay, Mordo and Jak who spoke at least one foreign language, to help him deal with the customers. Today, every member of the Bazaar speaks several languages.
Speaking of the old days ?emsettin Bey tells: "I miss the days when Bitli (infested) Mustafa (he was indeed infested with lice) and Çingene (gypsy) Yusuf were around. Yusuf used to shove carpets in their places on the shelves with a single move of his shoulders. And there was this salesman Zare... I can't explain how respectfully he dealt with the customers for hours!"
A long list of VIP's have visited ?engör's store : Juan Carlos (King of Spain), Gorbachov, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, Madeline Albright -she has eaten yoghurt kebab here-, Alberto Dini (former Foreign Minister of Italy), Helmut Kohl, artists Yul Bryner, Sean Connery and many more.
When asked the main principles of his profession, "One has to wish blessing and satiety to earn a living. Never despise the customer or the money" he replies.
Tevfik and Nizam Çolak brothers are from Trabzon from Eastern Black Sea region. They've been working as coppersmiths in Cebeci Han (Han is a two or three floor construction of rooms and halls around a courtyard serving as workshops, used as storage and housing amenities) for the past 35 years. They restore and polish old copperware as well as producing new ones. Tevfik Usta can't forget the days he produced over 800 hundred samovars in one order. Their shop is a paradise of copper. To explain the loyalty of his customers he tells of a French teacher who has visited him on regular basis for over eight years. He has recently gone back to France.
Cebeci Han, where you can find several groups of professions from carpet traders to coppersmiths, is a site known more by the foreigners than the Turkish people. Rıza Yüzbaşıo€lu, designing new objects from the brass items he salvages from old boats and ships says "Turkish customers don't know about me. My customers are mostly from abroad." He has turned a ship's propeller up-side- to support a glass top to be used as a table. He is proud of his lamps and various other ornaments he has made from the brass ship parts.
While walking through, Ahmet, a young shopkeeper, tries to invite you into his shop trying his luck in two or three different languages. He is insistent on following you through the whole Bazaar. Even if you don't answer him, he tries to figure out if you are British, French or Italian. If you try to avoid him, he'll end up asking if you are Turkish and if he finds out

that you are Turkish he will offer you a discount. If you by any chance happen to ask the price of an item he sells, he will offer you half the usual price, confusing you even further. You just want to run away from him. But then again isn't it the same with almost all the others? Like Ahmet, Mehmet, Hasan, Ali: They are all over. There is no escape. You try to avoid them but usually to no avail.
While going towards to Mahmutpaşa -the avarage mans shopping street- just outside the Grand Bazaar, at a corner in Acı Çeşme Street, you'll notice a man just sitting there in front of his scales. He doesn't want to give his name. His job: weighing people on his scales. He has been there for almost half a century. "I weigh man" he says, "I've always earned my living doing this. I've sent my children to school. I never thought of retirement. Anyway, I sold my property at my home town, so I have no financial problems now." He is 85 years old and has been doing the same job for 51 years: Weighing man. One can see only frustration in his face.Once the only major shopping centre, Grand Bazaar today tries to adopt itself to the changing times. Meanwhile it still offers colours, sounds, scents and scenes of the past. The Bazaar Mehmet The Conqueror built soon after the conquest of Istanbul, however offers you services even on internet. If you wish you can do your shopping in the Grand Bazaar without that atmosphere.When this giant Bazaar consisting of over 4 thousand stores, 40 hans, 60 streets and 2,200 cells was first established, it served a simple goal:To create income for St. Sophia. It was achieved by two covered market places named bedestens:

İç (the inner) Bedesten, or the Cevahir Bedesten as its called today and the present Sandal Bedesten. The sole purpose of the ‹ç Bedesten that was built near the old palace (now the campus of The University of Istanbul at Beyazıt Square) was trade of fabrics.
Sandal Bedesten was the trade centre of a cotton fabric named "sandal" which had silk wefts. As trade increased, bedesten expanded. In the old days, the wealthy people of ‹stanbul used to deposit their valuables to the safes at the Sandal Bedesten. If the valuables in safekeeping were not claimed over a certain period of time by their owners or inheritors of the owners, they would be transferred to the state treasury. It's told that ?eyhülislam (Islamic pope of the time) Mekkizade Mustafa Asım Efendi, left behind him a great wealth when he died in 1846. Since he had no relatives, the state inherited the 40 thousand purses of gold he had deposited at the bedesten and used it to restore St. Sophia.
The Inner Bedesten had 44 small cell-like stores in the old days. Today it's a centre of antique and gold articles. These cell-like stores have lost their characters behind shiny display windows.
The Sandal or the Inner Bedesten is the area on the left when you enter the Bazaar from the Nuruosmaniye Gate. Its dome rests on four walls and 12 columns. The Sandal Bedesten has witnessed the fall of Ottoman fabric industry in 19th century when the Empire cut down customs taxes and duties levied on imported fabrics. Annulation of the guild order in 1912 ffurthered the decline of the fabric market.
In 1914 the municipality turned the Sandal Bedesten into an auction hall. Once, a very exciting place, this Bedesten Auctions were inspired from Drout, the famous auction site in Paris. Till the 1980's people enjoyed here the excitement of auction in a historical atmosphere. Unfortunately today, this beautifull historic building resembles an ordinary street market.
If one considers the ages of the two bedestens, it is easy to tell that they are the nuclei of the whole Grand Bazaar. In due time when these two bedestens became insufficient, shops and Bazaars were formed around them. As they were covered with roofs and equipped with vaults, the Bazaar grew.
Two cafes reflect the new and old in the Bazaar: The tourists sipping their coffee at Fescafe, the newly opened coffee house, enjoy the modernish atmosphere Those who want to smell the past prefer to rest in the Orient Coffee House (?ark Kahvesi) near the center of the market.
Corç Vert, a goldsmith in the Bazaar for the past 55 years, is the grandson of an Ottoman Pasha who came to Istanbul from Antakya. His grandfather has carried some major missions in the Ottoman bureaucracy. He speaks Arabic, Greek, Italian and English. He began his profession as an apprentice. As a master, he has trained over hundred apprentices. All of them are practising the art in Europe, America and Australia. He says, "This Bazaar is a mosaic of Turkey. Not only in jewellery; think of the masters producing the 'same' models in every profession. You might think they are the same models, but the product of a master from Erzurum differs from that of a master from Istanbul as they reflect their own individual spirits. Only experienced eyes can see the difference."
The hans, the arcades, dazzling shop windows and the counters... It's a world of its own covering an area of 30.7 hectares. This is the Grand Bazaar that has been destroyed by earthquakes and fires and rebuilt again and again. ?emsettin ?engör can not forget the evening of 27 November 1954. When he came home that evening, he received the news that the Bazaar was on fire. He rushed to Beyazıt to see the sky high flames as if coming out of a giant blast furnace. Reconstruction of the Bazaar took 5 years. As one witness of the disaster said: "The Bazaar had become a black graveyard."
The life of Muhlis Günbattı from Elazı€, started to take shape here in 1955. He has done all kinds of jobs throughout his 46 years in the Bazaar. He used to call his Jewish friends Sabetay and Mişo to help when foreign customers came. During the 70's he had learned German, Italian and English. "Beginning with the mid 1970's the principals of trade started to loose their meaning; you could get away with anything." he says "Once, this Bazaar was the heart of shopping. You could find everything, from furniture to clothes, from shoes to underwear, from jewellery to blankets, from fez to hats in here. Even though it has changed its style now, it can only survive by protecting its authentic characteristics." When asked what he misses most, "Proper treatment of customers" he replies, "Many times I served a customer five hours and at the end he would say that he couldn't make up his mind and go. So what? I wish all the people would come here feeling free and comfortable." Still, as in the old days people in clothes of different colors, with their sorrows and joys continue to come and go.
Carpets, kilims, copper items, hats, tea-shirts, jewellery, fabrics and belly dancers costumes... Grand Bazaar, still silently represents the life style of Turkey with its forgotten handcrafts, arts and culture. Consider the "El-kasibu habilullah-God loves those who practice trade." epigram below the signature Abdülhamid II on top of Beyazıt Gate; go in and take all the pleasure you can from shopping in the largest Bazaar of the world.

A brief history of disasters

History of the Grand Bazaar consists mostly of disaster caused
by fires and earthquakes and following restorations:

1. The core of the Bazaar was constructed between 1451-1481, during the reign of
Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror.
2. At the beghaning there was only the ‹ç Bedesten, near the present Beyazıt Gate and theSandal Bedesten near the present Nuruosmaniye Door. In a short time,
they were sur rounded by vendors.
3. 1546, fire: Surrounding wooden houses burnt; Bazaar slightly damaged.
4. 1589, fire: Did not effect the Bazaar; surroundings completely destroyed.
5. 1618 and 1652: No great general damage but Bazaar highly effected.
6. 1660, fire: Necessiated reconstruction. Roofing changed.
7. 1695 and 1701, fire: Destroyed the Sandal Bedesten.
8. 1750, fire: at Mercan (south neighborhood of the Bazaar) caused great damage
to the Bazaar. Janissary soldiers plundered the Bazaar. Thus, Bazaar's reputation
of secureness received a blow.
9.1766, earthquake: Great damage; the Bazaar restored.
10. 1791, fire: at Uzun Çarşı Street; burnt the hans surrounding the Bazaar.
11.1826, fire: at Hocapaşa; extensive damage.
12. 1894, earthquake: Great damage; domes and vaults fell down; growth of borders of
the Bazaar restricted; some hans excluded from the Bazaar; two doors built to both ends
of the Kalpakçılar Street that connects Beyazıt and Nuruosmaniye; an Ottoman
coat of arms was placed to the facade of the Nuruosmaniye Gate, and the signature of Abdülhamit II on Beyazıt Gate.
n 1954, fire: Worst so far; near total destruction; restoration lasted five years; 1980's,
the interior of the Bazaar was resdecorated.