Bedesten

The origin of the word is from Persian بزازستان bazzāzestān, which means 'place of drapers'.{{Cite web |url=https://www.kamusiosmani.net/osmanlica-sozluk-5566-nedir-anlami.html |title=Kamusi Osmani |access-date=2019-09-21 |archive-date=2019-07-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710100357/https://www.kamusiosmani.net/osmanlica-sozluk-5566-nedir-anlami.html |url-status=dead }} The word includes Persian suffix -istan.{{cite book|title=Zeitschrift für Ethnologie|year=1974|publisher=Springer-Verlag|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tcoXAQAAMAAJ&q=bedesten|access-date=3 November 2011|page=226}} Ottomans pronounced it as Bazzistan and Bedesten.

File:Sandal Bedesten DSCF1148.jpg of Istanbul; attributed to the reign of Sultan Mehmed II (late 15th century)]]

The bedesten is a type of building that developed in the early Ottoman architecture of the 15th century.{{Cite book|last1=Öney|first1=Gönül|title=Early Ottoman Art: The Legacy of the Emirates|last2=Bulut|first2=Lale|last3=Çakmak|first3=Şakir|last4=Daş|first4=Ertan|last5=Demir|first5=Aydoğan|last6=Demiralp|first6=Yekta|last7=Ünal|first7=Rahmi H.|publisher=Museum With No Frontiers|year=2013}} Bedestens originally began as a place to house fabric and textile sellers but eventually more precious goods were stored here. As this type of building was more secure and could be locked at night, it became the place where the most important goods (e.g. gold and jewellery) were stored, protected, regulated, and sold.{{Cite book|last1=Sumner-Boyd|first1=Hilary|title=Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City|last2=Freely|first2=John|publisher=Tauris Parke Paperbacks|year=2010|edition=Revised|pages=157}} Besides the trading of jewellery and textiles, slaves were also sold in bedestens.{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/economicsocialhi0002unse_j7n1 |title=An economic and social history of the Ottoman Empire |date=1997 |location=Cambridge; New York |publisher= Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-57456-3 |pages=578}}

Expert merchants in bedestans also assisted in commercial disputes, and in some cases officials were employed here to carry out similar regulatory duties.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}} Waqf agreements (inalienable trusts in Islamic law) governed the function and upkeep of the bedesten and could provide salaries for these employees. Tenants could even rent booths in the bedesten from these waqfs. The bedesten was such an important building that during Ottoman times cities were often classified under two categories: cities with a bedesten and cities without a bedesten.Kreiser, Klaus: „Bedesten-Bauten im Osmanischen Reich. Ein vorläufiger Überblick auf Grund der Schriftquellen.“, in: Istanbuler Mitteilungen (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Abteilung Istanbul) 2, pp.367-400 (Tübingen 1979), reprint in Istanbul und das Osmanische Reich. Derwischwesen, Baugeschichte, Inschriftenkunde. Istanbul: Isis 1995. 286 S. (Analecta Isisiana. 14) pp.61-96.

The first major bedestens were constructed in the capitals of the Ottoman Empire which served as economic hubs of the empire. The bedesten of Bursa was built in the late 14th century by Sultan Yildirim Bayezid I during his reign between 1389 and 1402.{{Cite book|last=Köprülü Bağbancı|first=Özlem|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QnkWywAACAAJ&pg=PP1|title=The Bazaar in the Islamic City: Design, Culture, and History|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2012|isbn=9789774165290|editor-last=Gharipour|editor-first=Mohammad|pages=97–114|chapter=Commerce in the Emerging Empire: Formation of the Ottoman Trade Center in Bursa}} The bedesten of Edirne was built by Sultan Mehmed I between 1413 and 1421. The first Bedesten in Istanbul, variously known as the Inner Bedesten (Iç Bedesten), Old Bedesten (Eski Bedesten or Bedesten-i Atik), or the Jewellers' Bedesten (Cevahir Bedesteni), was built on the orders of Sultan Mehmed II Fatih between 1456 and 1461, soon after his conquest of the city.{{Cite book|last=Duranti|first=Andrea|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=44vnCwAAQBAJ&dq=A+Caravanserai+on+the+Route+to+Modernity%3A+The+Case+of+the+Valide+Han+of+Istanbul&pg=PA229|title=The Bazaar in the Islamic City: Design, Culture, and History|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2012|isbn=9789774165290|editor-last=Gharipour|editor-first=Mohammad|pages=229–250|chapter=A Caravanserai on the Route to Modernity: The Case of the Valide Han of Istanbul}}{{Cite web|title=Kapalıçarşı|url=https://archnet.org/sites/3472|access-date=2020-06-24|website=Archnet}} A second bedesten, the Sandal Bedesten, also known as the Small Bedesten (Küçük Bedesten) or New Bedesten (Bedesten-i Cedid), was built by Mehmed II about a dozen years later.{{Cite web|last=Türkoğlu|first=İnci|title=Grand Bazaar|url=http://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;tr;Mon01;28;en|access-date=2020-06-24|website=Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers}} These two bedestens formed the original core of Istanbul's Grand Bazaar, which grew around them over the following generations. Some Ottoman bedestens, including the ones in Bursa, Edirne, and Istanbul, are still operating as commercial centers today.

Bedestens normally have a rectangular floor plan, with a main chamber inside covered by domes and walled-off from the outside except for designated doorways. Their design was derived in part from the design of Ottoman mosques.{{cite book|last=Norris|first=H. T.|title=Islam in the Balkans: religion and society between Europe and the Arab world|year=1993|publisher=Hurst|location=London|isbn= 978-1-85065-167-3|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kTcRDKnYf2cC&pg=PR14 |access-date=3 November 2011|page=xiv|chapter=Glossary}}{{How|date=April 2020}} Often there were shops on the outside perimeter, but the interior chamber was where the most important goods were stored and sold.

Numerous bedestens were built during the Ottoman Empire, a number of which have survived today. Some of the most notable examples include the following:

• Iç Bedesten in the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul (built between 1456 and 1461)
• Sandal Bedesten in the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul (built shortly after the Iç Bedesten)
• Bedesten of Bursa, Turkey (built between 1389 and 1402)
• Bedesten of Edirne, Turkey (built between 1413 and 1421)
• Mahmut Paşa Bedesten in Ankara, Turkey (built in late 15th century; today it houses part of the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations){{Cite web|title=Ankara - Anatolian Civilizations Museum|url=https://www.ktb.gov.tr/EN-113893/ankara---anatolian-civilizations-museum.html#:~:text=The%20Anatolian%20Civilizations%20Museum%20is,the%20Conqueror%20during%201464-1471.|access-date=2020-07-27|website=www.ktb.gov.tr}}
• Gazi-Husrev Beg's Bezistan in Baščaršija, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.{{cite web|url=http://www.kons.gov.ba/main.php?id_struct=50&lang=4&action=view&id=2841 |title=Brusa bezistan (Rustem Pasha bezistan, Small bezistan) with shops, the architectural ensemble |access-date=2011-11-05 |publisher=Bosna i Hertegovina - Commission to Preserve National Monuments |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120501155803/http://www.kons.gov.ba/main.php?id_struct=50&lang=4&action=view&id=2841 |archive-date=2012-05-01 }}
• Brusa Bezistan, also in Sarajevo{{cite web|url=http://www.kons.gov.ba/main.php?id_struct=50&lang=4&action=view&id=2857 |title=Gazi Husrev-beg bezistan with shops, the architectural ensemble |access-date=2011-11-05 |publisher=Bosna i Hertegovina - Commission to Preserve National Monuments |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120501160553/http://www.kons.gov.ba/main.php?id_struct=50&lang=4&action=view&id=2857 |archive-date=2012-05-01 }}
• Bezistan in Old Bazaar, Skopje, Macedonia
• Bezistan in Bitola, Macedonia{{cite web | url=http://www.bitolatourist.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=60%3Abezisten&catid=43%3A-10-&Itemid=93&lang=en | title= Bitola bezistan (Covered bazaar)}}
• Bedesten of Serres, Greece (today it houses the Archaeological Museum of Serres){{cite web | url=http://www.serrelib.gr/bezasteni.htm | title=Μπεζεστένι Σερρών | access-date=2011-11-05 | author=Vasilis Kostovasilis | work=Part of the article "Τα Μπεζεστένια - Οι μεγάλες σκεπαστές αγορές", Ελληνικό Πανόραμα, Issue 30 (2002), pp. 102-131 | publisher=Serres Central Library | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111121214905/http://serrelib.gr/bezasteni.htm | archive-date=2011-11-21 | url-status=dead }}
• Bedesten of Larissa, Greece
• Bedesten in Nicosia, Cyprus (originally a Greek Orthodox church from the 6th and 14th centuries, architecturally different from all other Ottoman bedestens){{cite web|last1=Bağışkan|first1=Tuncer|title=Kıbrıs'ta Osmanlı – Türk Eserleri (5)|url=http://www.yeniduzen.com/Ekler/adres-kibris/183/kibris-ta-osmanli-turk-eserleri-5/1913|publisher=Yeni Düzen|access-date=24 July 2015|language=tr|date=8 November 2014}}
• Bedesten of Thessaloniki, Greece{{cite journal|url=http://www.arxaiologia.gr/site/content.php?artid=409 |title=Η Θεσσαλονίκη κατά την Τουρκοκρατία - Τα τουρκικά μνημεία |author=Αλίκη Σαμουηλίδου - Αιμιλία Στεφανίδου-Φωτιάδου |journal=Περιοδικό Αρχαιολογία |date=May 1983 |volume=7 |pages=[http://www.arxaiologia.gr/assets/media/PDF/migrated/134.pdf 62] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402053505/http://www.arxaiologia.gr/site/content.php?artid=409 |archive-date=2012-04-02 }}

There are also reproductions after the Ottoman era, such as Bezistan, Belgrade.

{{Gallery

|title=Examples of Bedestens in Turkey

|align=center

|File:Bursa bedesten DSCF1674.jpg|Interior of the Bedesten of Bursa (late 14th century)

|File:Bedesten Çarşı - panoramio.jpg|Interior of the Bedesten of Edirne (early 15th century)

|File:Old bedesten DSCF2999.jpg|Interior of the Old Bedesten of the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul, built by Sultan Mehmed II between 1456 and 1461

|File:Bedesten Tekirdağ.JPG|Bedesten in Tekirdağ, Turkey

|File:Nigde bedesten.jpg|Bedesten in Nigde, Turkey

|File:Kırkkaşık, Tarsus, Mersin.jpg|Kırkkaşık Bedesten, Tarsus, Mersin, Turkey

|File:Ankara Mahmut Paşa Vaulted Bazaar (14042724307).jpg|Old photograph of the Mahmut Paşa Bedesten in Ankara, before restoration

|File:ULUS , ANKARA (23784389869).jpg|The Mahmut Paşa Bedesten in Ankara today, housing the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations

|File:DSCN1089 (6835886937).jpg|Interior of the Mahmut Paşa Bedesten today, part of the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations

}}

{{Gallery

|title=Examples of Bedestens in the Balkans

|align=center

|File:Mpezesteni, Thessaloniki.JPG|Bedesten in Thessaloniki, Greece

|File:20111030 Bezesteni Serres Greece.jpg|Bedesten of Serres, Greece

|File:Serres museum.jpg|Bedesten of Serres, Greece

|File:20111009 Bezesteni Larissa Thessaly Greece 1.jpg|Bedesten of Larissa, Greece

|File:20111009 Bezesteni Larissa Thessaly Greece 2.jpg|Detail of the Bedesten of Larissa, Greece

|File:Jedan od ulaza u bezistan u Sarajevu.JPG|Entrance of Gazi-Husrev Beg's Bezistan of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

|File:Inside Bezistan in Sarajevo.JPG|Interior of the Gazi-Husrev Beg's Bezistan in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

|File:Bascarsija.jpg|Brusa Bezistan of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

|File:Bezisten_yambol.JPG|alt=|Bedesten in Yambol, Bulgaria.

}}

{{reflist|2}}

• {{cite encyclopedia | first = Semavi | last = Eyice | author-link = Semavi Eyice | title = Bedesten | pages = 302–311 | encyclopedia = İslâm Ansiklopedisi, Vol. 5 (Balaban - Beşir Ağa) | year = 1992 | location = Istanbul | publisher = Turkiye Diyanet Vakfi | language = tr | url = http://www.islamansiklopedisi.info/dia/pdf/c05/c050219.pdf }}

• [http://www.bedesten.net Bedestan Website (Turkish)]

Category:Ottoman architecture

Category:Commercial buildings