Grand Bazaar of Isfahan

The covered bazaar runs for about two kilometres from the Qeysarieh portal on Naqsh-e Jahan Square to the Friday Mosque in the old part of the city. Trade went on here as far back as Seljuk times, but the rows owe their present appearance to the Safavid rebuilding of the early seventeenth century, when the bazaar was turned into a single axis linking the new royal centre with the old one. The galleries are roofed with brick vaults, and a round opening is left at the top of each dome: it gives an even, diffused light and draws off the hot air, so that at noon in July it is noticeably cooler under the vaults than out in the street. The rows are divided up by craft — carpets in one place, chased metalwork and copper in another, fabrics and spices in a third; caravanserais, mosques and old bathhouses are tucked in between them, and some are still working. Isfahan's chased copper and silver work is considered the best in the country, and the workshops here are not for show: you hear the ringing of hammers long before you catch sight of a stall.

On the map