Ottoman market quarter · covered market rebuilt 1899–1900
The Ottoman market quarter between the Stone Bridge and Bit Pazar: lanes of small shops, hans, mosques and the covered Bezisten.
These are the stories you can open in the 3D view, each at its own numbered point on the model.
This is the Čaršija, the Old Bazaar of Skopje. A merchant quarter is recorded here from the 12th century, and it grew fast under Ottoman rule.
Today it covers about ten hectares, from the Stone Bridge to Bit Pazar and from Kale down to the Serava stream.
At the heart of the bazaar stands the Bezisten, the covered market: a two-storey hall inside a ring of buildings, reached through narrow lanes and gates.
It was first built in the 15th century under Ishak Bey. Under him and his son Isa Bey, the bazaar grew round it and round the first mosques of Ottoman Üsküp.
The Bezisten was destroyed in 1689, when Habsburg troops burnt Skopje during the Great Turkish War.
It was rebuilt in 1899 and 1900; an inscription over the entrance records the work. The building has kept that form ever since. Most sources tie the damage to the Bezisten, Suli An, the Daut Pasha Hamam and the Clock Tower to that fire.
Inside, narrow lanes run between two-storey walls of white plaster. Tall round-headed windows sit behind heavy iron grilles, brown downpipes run down the corners, and the floor is of stone slabs.
Gates close the lanes at the street ends. The model follows the outlines in OpenStreetMap; the details of the lanes are an estimate.
Round the Bezisten run lanes of one- and two-storey shops. Their ground floors are of stone or rendered brick with wooden or metal shutters, the upper floors are white or cream, and low hipped roofs of curved tiles have deep eaves.
Canvas awnings shade the goods, and the lanes are paved with large, irregular grey slabs. Use the button to close the shops for the night.
Under the Ottomans the bazaar gained about thirty mosques, as well as hans for travelling merchants and hamams, the public baths.
Suli An, a few steps east, adjoins the Bezisten at its west entrance. Kapan An and Kuršumli An are close by, and the Čifte Hamam stands close by to the south-east.
The bazaar still has working mosques, türbes, two churches and a clock tower among its shops. Above the low roofs, white minarets rise on the skyline; the Clock Tower and the Sultan Murad Mosque stand at its east end.
Since 2005 the municipality of Čair has promoted the restoration of the area.
Typical prices are our estimates for orientation, not menu prices. Check opening hours on the spot.
Walk around the model, switch between day and night, and hear each story read aloud in English, Macedonian or Turkish.
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