Commercial Buildings in the Ottoman City: Literature Review for Bazaars, Hans
Bazaar in the Ottoman city or the commercial center of the city in general developed and took its shape with bedesten, han and arasta buildings. Depending on the size of the bazaar, there were also one or more mosques and a bath building in the commercial center. Besides the built environment, marketplaces and open-air bazaars for food or animals to be sold were founded near the commercial center on certain days of the week. These spaces which shaped or were shaped by the social and economic structure of the city have started to be studied in various disciplines like city planning, architecture, art history or history with various approaches since the second half of the 20th century. This paper aims to evaluate this rich literature related to the commercial space as built environment in the Ottoman period. The literature which is directly or indirectly related to the commercial spaces is evaluated with particular emphasis on the variety in their methodologies, use of sources, and approaches. Also, they are studied through a chronological framework to observe varying approaches, developments, and progress over time in research on the commercial space of the Ottomans. Finally, at the end of the paper, a broad bibliography related to the subject is provided.
TUBA AKAR
