The Spice Market as a Lieux de Memoire

A photo of Pierre Nora, author of “Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de mémoire”.

A shot of the interior of the Spice Market today.

A close shot of some spices on sale at the Istanbul Spice Market.

Nora’s lieux de memoire is a part of a nation’s collective memory; one that is not only historically, culturally or socio-politically significant, though many lieux de memoire are, but one that is remembered and recognized by a people as symbolic and meaningful to the community they belong to[1]. And according to Nora, unlike history, which “is the reconstruction, always problematic and incomplete, of what is no longer… a representation of the past” (8), memory is “…in permanent evolution… a perpetually actual phenomenon, a bond tying us to the eternal present” (8). A lieux de memoire is not just meant to commemorate the past and its events that are deemed ‘historically significant’; rather, it is a being that belongs just as much to the present as it does in the past, containing all that it has signified and witnessed in the past up until the very present. Because it contains memories and meanings of the present, it is still in continuous evolution today, evolving with the consciousness and appropriations of the community it is surrounded by at present.

Historically, the Spice Market (Mısır Çarşısı), also called the Egyptian Bazaar, signifies a key trait and tradition of Istanbul as a port city – a key intersection of global trade, leading to a rich economic and cultural vibrancy. Goods and people from all over the world stopped and gathered in the ports and markets of Istanbul, exchanging not only the goods they were selling but also languages, cultures, viewpoints and tastes. The bazaar is home to goods that were enjoyed centuries ago, including an iconic element of the earliest global flows of trade – spice – as well as more modern and foreign goods that trickled in in later years. The building of the market shows traces of classic Ottoman era architecture, yet also reflects years of destruction, reconstruction and redesign that it underwent in following years. And while not as apparent today, the bazaar as well as the New Mosque that it is embedded within served purposes in the past that may or may not continue to hold true today, though they have always remained oriented towards serving the public. In many aspects, the Spice Market presents viewers with both traces of the tangible past as well as the transient experiences and moments that filled and crucially reflected the port city of Istanbul throughout its history. As a place that is both familiar and foreign, and routine yet adventurous, the Spice Market serves as a universal yet unique memory depending on the identity of the beholder. The physical transformation of the bazaar as well as the fast-paced movement and flow of human life and cultural treasures within it create a site that is dynamic and transformative yet remains a constant, symbolic lieux de memoire of the Istanbul city at large.