Esfahan Grand Bazaar (Qeysariyeh Bazaar)

The Grand Bazaar is a historical market located in Isfahan, Iran also known as “Qeysariye Bazaar”.
The name Bazaar is very old and has its roots in Old Persian language. The Persian word followed the trade roots and was borrowed by many European and Asian languages.

The bazaar of Isfahan, like other bazaar in Islamic cities, can be divided into three parts:

1) Raste and dehliz, which are the main and peripheral streets and corridors inside the bazaar.

2) Caravanserais, which are the economic complexes with stores and places for (residing), housing merchants.

3) Qeysariya, timice and serai, which are economic complexes without any residential possibilities.

It was originally constructed during the 11th century on the southwest wing of Jameh mosque but various arcades and rooms were later added to it. The present remnant dates from the Safavid period. It has about 5 kilometers ( 3 miles) of shopping streets, some with brick arches, some with popular beams, over a hundred caravanserais and sarais, innumerable covered halls (timce) and contain wingsThe bazaar was the backbone of the city.

Esfahan grand bazaar used as the main street in Isfahan and a place for meeting people, seeing and being seen. This kind of bazaar acted a real heart of the city. By counting the number of Madrasa, mosques and Hammams in the bazaar we can understand to what extent the bazaar acted as the center of Isfahan.

Also it should be note that the reason for development of the old market into the north was even before Safavid some residential quarters like Khaju were located in the south and this bazaar was developed as the main residents of Isfahan. Another reason was the Zayandeh River, which was located at the south of new square.The area to east of the main axis, the qeisariya and it extension, the Jitsazha (fabric painter bazaar) became the most sought-after site.

Source: Iran tourism center