It is a vast complex including 4000 shops and a large number of ateliers, restaurants, coffeehouses and mosques. The Grand Bazaar was hit by a number of fires, the last of which happened in 1954. Its two main gates in Nuruosmaniye and Beyazit are interconnected through a broad avenue. And the bazaar activities spill into a myriad of small streets flowing from the center.

It is also the biggest jewelry bazaar in the world. It is no easy task to choose among the pieces of jewelry manufactured in local ateliers and attractively displayed along a series of jewelry stores.

The alleys of the Grand Bazaar were the center of a black market in foreign exchange at a time when such dealings were illegal. After the liberalization of the economy, the Grand Bazaar is now seen as having given birth to the current foreign exchange market.

Bedesten

They played a key role in the medieval economy. During the Ottoman period, they acted as banks and stock exchange markets. A team of 12 bodyguards was employed in each one of them. The Bedesten opened its door with prayers in the morning and closed ceremonially in the evening. Highly valuable goods were sold before noon on Thursdays, at which time the personages of the time would come to trade and the local population would conglomerate for the occasion.

There are three bedestens in Istanbul, two in the Grand Bazaar and one in Galata. The older one in the Bazaar was called the Old or Small Bedesten, while the one commissioned by Mehmet the Conqueror was called the New or Big Bedesten.