The Grand Bazaar

You're at the Nuruosmaniye Gate, one of the main entrances to the Grand Bazaar, the Kapalıçarşı or "covered market". What lies behind it is a city in itself: more than sixty roofed streets and some four thousand shops, depending on who's counting.

1A market born of the conquest

A few years after taking Constantinople, Mehmed II set out to revive trade in his new capital. Between 1455 and 1461 he built the first core, the Cevahir Bedesteni, a domed stone hall with thick walls where the most valuable goods were kept: jewels, weapons and fine fabrics. The income went towards the upkeep of Hagia Sophia, by then a mosque.

2Guilds, fires and earthquakes

Around it grew shops, inns for merchants and covered streets. Each trade had its own street and its own guild, with a head who controlled prices and quality; many street names still recall goldsmiths, cap makers and carpet dealers. The bazaar burned several times, and the earthquake of 1894 damaged it so badly that rebuilding took years and left it smaller.

For centuries the bazaar's great gates were shut every night, like a fortress of commerce.

Today jewellers, antique dealers and souvenir shops sit side by side. Haggling is still part of the game, especially for bigger purchases.

3What to look for

• The gilded Ottoman coat of arms above the gate's arch, with the date 1461 beneath it.
• The Nuruosmaniye Mosque beside you, in Ottoman baroque style.
• The painted ceilings of the main gallery, just through the gate.