EGYPTIAN BAZAAR
The mysterious Orient as pictured in western eyes
over the centuries is in many ways epitomised by the Misir Çarsisi
- Egyptian Bazaar - in Istanbul. To this market came the spices
of the Far East, and for centuries people came here to purchase
a thousand and one ingredients in hope of curing their medical complaints.
These associations from the past still linger in the bazaasa exotic
image.
Ever since it was built, visitors both local and foreign to Istanbul
have sought out the Egyptian Bazaar. Although at first sight the
building might seem typical of classical Ottoman bazaars, its plan
and structure distinguish it from others in Istanbul, Edirne and
Bursa. Each of the arched eyvans, originally open at the front,
along the covered street of the bazaar was occupied by a shop, and
behind each was a room twice the size of the eyvan. The jars of
spices and pharmaceutical drugs were displayed in the eyvan at the
front where the customers were served. The rear room, meanwhile,
was used for storage and for making up prescriptions.
Today, however, the shops have been altered so that
the eyvans are enclosed.
The L-shaped bazaar has two large main gates and
four smaller, and is built of stone and brick, rather than timber
like other bazaars of the period. At the corner where the two arms
meet is a prayer dome and a place from which the call to prayer
was chanted. The main entrances at the extremities of the two arms
are in the form of two-storey portals with six-arch colonnades.
These portals once housed two commercial courts, one to settle disagreements
between tradesmen, and the other between tradesmen and customers.
The Egyptian Bazaar is part of the complex of Yeni Mosque, construction
of which began during the reign of Mehmed III (1595-1603) and was
completed in 1663 by the architect Mustafa Aga for Hatice Turhan
Sultan, mother of Mehmed IV (1648-1687). It was therefore originally
known as the Yeni Bazaar or Valide Bazaar, valide meaning mother.
Since the spices and drugs sold in the bazaar arrived
by ships from Egypt which unloaded their cargos nearby, in time
it came to be known as the Egyptian Bazaar. In the early years the
Egyptian Bazaar was occupied by shops selling cotton as well as
pharmaceuticals. It is one of the loveliest classical style bazaars
in Istanbul, and its L shape is typical of the arasta type of bazaar
consisting of rows of shops devoted to the same trade. The six gates
of the Egyptian Bazaar are the main Eminönü Gate, Balikpazari
(formerly Tahmis) Gate, Ketenciler Gate, Çiçekpazari
Gate, Yeni Cami Gate and Bahçe (formerly Haseki) Gate.
Edmondo d'Amicis, who visited Istanbul during the
reign of Sultan Abdülaziz (1861-1876) described the Egyptian
Bazaar in the following words: 'Entering this, we are immediately
assailed by an odour so powerful as to fairly knock one down: this
is the Egyptian Bazaar, where are deposited all the wares of India,
Syria, Egypt, and Arabia, which later on, converted into essences,
pastilles, powders and ointments, serve to colour little hands and
faces, perfume apartments and baths and breaths and beards, reinvigorate
worn-out pashas, and dull the senses of unhappy married people.'
The pharmacists trained as apprentices and having risen to the rank
of master opened their own shops.They not only sold medicinal herbs,
but also served as folk doctors who prescribed cures for their customers'
complaints.
Their myriad store of ingredients included dried
flowers, leaves, stems, seeds, tree bark and roots, among them many
still commonly used for culinary purposes and home remedies today,
such as sage, rosemary, morning glory, hemp, marsh mallow, thyme,
momordica, violet, lemon balm, basil, summer savory, nettle, and
mahaleb. The pharmacists were at the same time perfumers, who prepared
fragrant essences.
Today there are just nine shops selling herbs and
spices in the bazaar, the others selling such a wide range of goods
as jewellery, furniture, meat, dried nuts and fruits, haberdashery,
baskets, perfumes, and confectionery. The dried fruit and nut shops
are almost as fascinating as the spice shops, with their tempting
range of pistachio nuts, almonds, hazelnuts, dried figs, dried peaches,
raisins, coconut and many others. There are also grocery shops selling
many varieties of jam - such as quince, sour cherry, apricot, strawberry
and fig, delicious cheeses, preserved meats and sausages, and different
kinds of honey.
On the upper floor of the portal at the south gate
is a famous restaurant, Pandeli, which has been serving Turkish
cuisine here for a hundred years. On the walls are proudly displayed
newspaper cuttings about the restaur'stge famous guests, including
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk who came to eat here both during Ottoman
times and after the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923.
Other celebrated patrons of Pandeli were the poet
Yahya Kemal Beyatli and novelist Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar.
There are also small shops along the outer walls
of the Egyptian Bazaar, fishmongers to the north and pet shops and
flower shops to the south. So although the character of the Egyptian
Bazaar has changed since Ottoman times, the variety of goods to
be found here make it if anything more colourful than it was.
*Abdullah Kiliç is a journalist
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