The term bazaar originates from Persian, where it referred to a town's public market district. [4] The term bazaar is sometimes also used to refer collectively to the merchants, bankers and craftsmen who work in that area. The term souk comes from Arabic and refers to marketplaces in the Middle East and North Africa. [5]

Bazaars were once the economic and cultural cores of Islamic cities. They were usually the busiest spaces, attracting not only shoppers, but also curious visitors, musicians, poets, and other crowds from the city and beyond. Bazaars could be permanent markets or informal and temporary, whether seasonal, weekly, or occasional.

Khan el-Khalili (Arabic: خان الخليلي) is a famous bazaar in the historic center of Cairo, Egypt. Established as a center of trade in the Mamluk era and named for one of its several historic caravanserais, the bazaar district has since become one of Cairo's main attractions for tourists and Egyptians alike.

Souk al-Safafeer (Arabic: سوق الصفافير, lit. 'Market of the yellow copper') is an ancient souk or bazaar in Baghdad, Iraq, that branches off al-Rashid Street and connects to al-Mustansiriyya Madrasa. The souk was established in Central Baghdad on the shores of the Tigris River in the Abbasid period and has been active ever since ...

The bazaar (Persian; Arabic, suq ; Turkish, çarşi ), traditional marketplace located in the old quarters in a Middle Eastern city, has long been the central marketplace and crafts center, the primary arena, together with the mosque, of extrafamilial sociability, and the embodiment of the traditional Islamic urban lifestyle.

The souk is the beating heart of many ancient cities from the Near East to North Africa. Souk - an Arabic term translating as the marketplace, is the cradle of traditional urban culture in Arab-Islamic societies.

Oct 14, 2024 · A bustling Middle Eastern bazaar with intricate arches, vibrant textiles, and ornate domes, surrounded by bustling merchants and ancient architecture Design and Layout. The Grand Bazaars of the Middle East are exemplary of the region’s architectural heritage.

For instance, in Tadmor , present-day Syria, the stately columns of the city’s classical decumanus (main east-west thoroughfare) filled up with the ramshackle stalls of a suq (bazaar or marketplace). Whereas such structures were once viewed as symptomatic of the decline of the pristine ancient city, they are now understood more positively to ...

Nov 2, 2016 · Soldiers linking arms with their significant others and old men wearing long, traditional Arabic robes glide over the wide cobblestone avenue, smoothed over by centuries of wear. In this...

One of the most notable of these markets is Khan al-Khalili, which news site Arab America calls "the most famous market in Egypt." It's an outdoor bazaar jam-packed with stalls in tiny alleys...