The Second Big Fire and Major Restorations, 1940-43
After a second major fire in 1940, the Bazaar underwent three years of restoration between 1940 and 1943. As a result, the interior layout of the Bazaar’s stores was rearranged into the format they assume today, different from the form and shape they had since their creation. Originally, the each of the bazaar’s shops consisted of two sections. While retail sale and presentation of spice containers were made in the wooden front section of the store, the back section, a space twice as deep as the front space and separated by a wall with a closeable wooden door, was used for storing and manufacturing purposes. During restoration, these walls that separated the two spaces were removed, and the iwans – sections with Ottoman-style couches where tradesmen would sit, once a part of the shop’s front section – became connected to the backrooms. Much of the back spaces were consequently repurposed and turned into more shops, some of which can be seen in the Bazaar today. As a result of these restorations, many believe that the bazaar lost its unique layout and its structure “lost its authenticity in terms of shop arrangement and area of usage[1]”. In addition to a few other changes, the eaves of some shops also featured a symbol (fire tower, a little boat, ostrich egg, scissors, tassel and etc.) so that the stores may be easily recognized. These symbols enabled people to easily find the intended shop and give directions to others. Another reason behind the symbols on certain parts of shops was for the protection of consumer rights - when a customer purchased a product from a shop within the Egyptian Bazaar and found it dissatisfactory, they would be able to tell the others the exact shop they purchased it from by identifying it with its unique symbols[2].
The creation, destruction, reconstruction, and renovation of the bazaar represent various aspects of Istanbul and this particular site at various points in history – how the people of Istanbul coped with the loss of a key part of their daily life, how the role and presentation of the market was reinterpreted and evolved over time, how the appearance of the market reflects the historical and political context of Istanbul and Turkey at the time, how much people treasured this seemingly ordinary site enough to repeatedly rebuild it after multiple occasions of destruction, and how the transforming architecture of the bazaar may have affected or disrupted the human interactions and local culture and traditions that had formed itself around these physical arrangements over the years. All of these elements have been preserved yet reproduced through the market’s nuanced transformations to make the market into a lieux de memoire, one that is relatable to and remembered by all those within the city - even if it may seem like all that has changed is its surface-level appearance.