Tabriz Bazaar

A few comments additional to Els’s thorough review

a. We visited first in the late afternoon and then again briefly the next morning to catch up on some areas which had been closed. It was a surprise to us to discover that, rather contrary to “popular belief” regarding a country which “stays up late”, a lot of the bazaar closes for the day around 4-5pm. Many areas of the bazaar are primarily wholesale (or even manufacturing) locations and their “business” is done early, unlike that of the tourist and gold etc areas! This early closure particularly impacts the Carpet Bazaar (The Mozaffarieh Timcha) if you want to see that (it is quite nice to watch the “carpet finishers” working on the floor of this area). You may not even know that such areas exist as they close off access from the main Bazaar by shutting their enormous mediaeval doors and you would have no idea of what lies behind.

b. To “add value” to the visit experience it is worth trying to understand and chase down the different social and architectural elements of the Bazaar as described in the AB evaluation and (more fully) in the Nomination file (Sarays, Timchas, Rastas, Charsugs, Dalans and Bazarchas!). Their names are usually marked by brass plates within the bazaar. The essence of Tabriz Bazaar’s case for OUV lies in this range of architectural and social spaces.

c. Maps of the main covered bazaar are as rare as hens’ teeth. Our guide managed to …

The Tabriz Historic Bazaar Complex has been declared a WHS because of its original layout and architecture. The nomination file goes into extreme detail about Iranian bazaar types and customs, this apparently is “a central bazaar with radial gate-bazaars”. The 3 inscribed locations are the Grand Bazaar and 2 of the remaining secondary bazaars. It’s also one of the oldest bazaars still in use: Tabriz was already a bustling town in the 13th century, when it was an important commercial stop on the northern route of the Silk Road through Iran.

We arrived at the Grand Bazaar late in the afternoon. It still is a popular shopping district in this city of 1.5 million inhabitants, and many shoppers were about. Both modern necessities such as kitchen utensils and traditional goods like nuts and spices are sold. The figs especially are to die for, soft and sweet - nothing like the dried-out objects you’ll find in supermarkets in Europe. Despite the bazaar’s age, it does feel quite modern and not as atmospheric as for example the medina’s of Fez and Marrakech. People in my tour group that had been to Aleppo, the most similar WHS because it’s also a covered bazaar, preferred that one over Tabriz too.

In the bazaar’s back alleys and behind closed doors there is however more to discover than appears at first sight. The bazaar not only has a commercial function, it provides a social and religious one too. We had a quick look into …

Visited September 2013.

If you get to Tabriz, sooner or later you will end up in the covered bazaar some say the biggest in the world. Few years ago we still had two biggest bazaars in the world - the second one being Al-Madina Souq in Aleppo, but what happened to the Syrian one, we all know and shame on all of us for that.

Tabriz is a very big city and the bazaar is not centrally located - it used to lie in the center of the town but as Tabriz became the main trading post between Turkey and Iran, most of the city moved southward. But the bazaar remains the real heart of the city if not of the whole West Azerbaijan. The main entrance is easy to miss, but don't worry you can always use one of the small gates.

What you can expect? A labyrinth-like kingdom where you can find anything you wish. Carpet, gold, spice, perfume, shoes, food, things you need and things you cannot even name - all's there. More than 20 timches (big vaulted halls), hundreds of alleys and thousands of shops. Go there in the late afternoon! And don't be afraid of the crowd! People are very friendly, they are business people but will find time to serve you a cup of tea or coffee.

In the bazaar itself there are more then 20 caravanserais and Friday Mosque with a brick vaulted interior. In the western part of the bazaar you can …

I am from Tabriz. Interesting part of memories about Tabriz Bazaar goes back to my childhood time even before grade school walking with my family in this wonderful and naturally well warmed covered places watching shops after shops with almost anything a child might think about,while it was snowing with hard winter whether outside. In summer, just avoiding the heat of mid-day sun,I used to enjoy walking in this covered and naturally well air-conditioned cool air of any Tabriz Bazaars.

In my teen years I had my 25 minutes fast walking to school or back to home going through three different connected bazaars with my teen friends avoiding snow and cold weather in winter and heat of of late spring days.

One should be in these bazaars to see the wonder of the world miles after miles which was completed almost over 7 centuries ago. I think the creation of miles of Bazaar in Tabriz was one of the Wonder of the world. Visit that place if you are interested to see a Wonder of the world.