The 'Egyptian' Bazaar, Mid 18th-century

The Egyptian Bazaar used to be called as the “New Bazaar” and “Valide Bazaar” by the historiographers of the 17th century. The bazaar was once the last stop for the camel caravans that travelled the Silk Road from China, India and Persia[1]. However in the mid 18^th century, it earned its name of “Egyptian Bazaar” as the spices and goods that were sold in the bazaar were mostly coming from Egypt, and the building was initially endowed with the taxes levied on these Egyptian goods. The market is often referred to as the “Egyptian Bazaar” in the travel books of foreign travelers as well[2].

In 1874, an Italian writer by the name of Edmondo de Amicis described the Egyptian Bazaar as follows: “Entering this, we are immediately assailed by an odour so powerful as to fairly knock one down: this is the Egyptian Bazaar, where are deposited all the wares of India, Syria, Egypt, and Arabia, which later on, converted into essences, pastilles, powders and ointments, serve to colour little hands and faces, perfume apartments and baths and breaths and beards, reinvigorate worn-out pashas, and dull the senses of unhappy married people, stupefy smokers, and spread dreams, oblivion, and insensibility throughout the whole of the vast city. After going but a short distance in this bazaar your head begins to feel dull and heavy, and you get out of it as fast as you can; but the effect of that hot, close atmosphere and those penetrating odors clings long to your clothing, and remains for all time in your memory as one of the most vivid and characteristic impressions of the East[3].”

The collective memory of the Spice Market is formed just as much by the perception of foreigners as it is by that of local residents. Given its nature as a global hub of trade, Istanbul attracted not only goods but also people and their perspectives from all over the world that came to document, define and shape the lieux de memoire that the market has become today.