The Old Skopje Bazaar

The Old Skopje Bazaar [Stara Charshija]

By building of protection walls that surrounded the Dolen Grad (Lower Town) of Skopje, in the 12th century, an idea was born to form an urban construction where exchange of goods could be made. Until then, the exchange was performed in the open, in the monastery meadow near the river Treska, on the location of today's town of Makedonski Brod, on improvised counters where various craftsmen, agricultural and grocery products, as well as cattle were sold.

This is how the fair was created. It took place once a year and it was on the day of Nativity of Virgin Mary (September 8). Created was also the weekly market where the population could, once a week, on a certain day, shop for products they needed. The tradesman and the salesman were forced to seek for a storage space for the unsold goods to protect it during the night. Therefore, they started building improvised roofs, that was against the decision of the monastery administration.

This is way the market was transferred to a new location, in solid and protected spaces - stores and workshops, that were under the jurisdiction of the newly built church (at the end of the 12th century), dedicated to Holy Mother of God Troeracica. So, in the 14th century, the town of Skopje achieved the supremacy of a major trading point, with developed guild and craftsmanship. The Old Bazaar reached its peak in the times of the Ottoman rule of Macedonia.

In the itinerary notes of the travel writer Evlya Celeby, who was living in Skopje in 1660-61, is noted that the Bazaar comprised a great number of baths (amami), inns, mosques, craftsmen shops, etc. The area of the bazaar was divided into specific sub-bazaars, where specific craftsmen workshops and stores were grouped together. Therefore, the lanes of the bazaar were named after the predominant craft in them (Kazanxiska, Zelezarska, Kujundziska etc.).

In the core of the Bazaar is the Bezisten. In the Skopje Bazaar there used to be a covered part, called Kapali Carљija. The stores were built using a simple bondruk - construction and from a less durable materials. In the back they had warehouses, and the upper floor was used to accommodate the apprentices who worked in the stores.

During the devastating earthquake in Skopje, in 1963, the Old Bazaar was greatly damaged, and especially the historic monuments situated in that part of the town (Kurљumli-an, Kapan-an, Suli-an etc).

Until the big shopping mall in the center of the city was built 9in the 1970's) the Old Bazaar was the most important trading center. From then on, its significance started to decline. Still, it lives and pulsates in the heart of the city. Although it is modernized and adapted for contemporary living style, the spirit of the history and the tradition still lives and persists as an immortal property of the Bazaar.