Urmia Bazaar

🕰️When was it built?

The core of the bazaar survives from the Safavid period, but not all of it was built at the same time. Arcades, bathhouses, sarais and mosques from the Zand and Qajar periods are also part of it. The bazaar was registered as a national monument in 1983.

🏛️What was it built for?

The bazaar was a place for trade and for unloading goods, and each guild had its own lane. The Haj Ebrahim sarai and the caravanserai north of the Jameh Mosque were tied to the carpet trade, and the Shoja al-Dowleh sarai was used for unloading and supplying goods to the other lanes. These spaces combined buying and selling with storage and moving goods.

👀What you will see

• The brick vaults and domes come in different shapes, but most lanes are plain, without plaster rendering.
• The chaharsu, the crossings, are where lanes meet, and under their brick roofs you can pass from one part of the bazaar to another.
• Lanes named after old guilds, such as the coppersmiths, knife makers, goldsmiths and apothecaries, show how the bazaar was divided.
• Sarais and arcades sit between the lanes; the Haj Ebrahim and Shoja al-Dowleh sarais are the best known.
• The historic Akhund, Tajalli, Qa'em and Qarajeh bathhouses also stand among the lanes and are part of the bazaar.

🎒Good to know before you go

• Pause at the crossings and compare the vaults with those of the lanes beside them; this is where you see how the brick roofs differ across the bazaar.