Sahaflar Çarşısı (Book Bazaar)
A 100-meter passage of secondhand and antiquarian booksellers between the Grand Bazaar and the Beyazıt Mosque — historic, calm, full of rare finds.
About
The Sahaflar Çarşısı (Old Book Bazaar) is a 100-meter passage of secondhand and antiquarian booksellers in the shadow of the Beyazıt Mosque, between the Grand Bazaar and the University of Istanbul. The site has been a book market since Byzantine times — then the Chartoprateia, the booksellers' street, was located here.
The current bazaar is mostly rebuilt after the 1894 Istanbul earthquake, and today houses about 40-50 booksellers selling second-hand Turkish and Ottoman-language books, antiquarian volumes, manuscripts, calligraphy, magazines, postcards, and (in recent years) a few English-language vendors with paperbacks for the tourist trade.
It's a calm, slightly melancholy place — the kind of bazaar where you find unexpected treasures (a 1920s illustrated travel guide to Ottoman Anatolia, a stack of 1960s Turkish fashion magazines, Ottoman-era manuscripts, calligraphy studies) and the booksellers will discuss their stock with you at length. Combine with a visit to the Beyazıt Mosque and a walk up to the Süleymaniye.
Open daily 09:00-19:00 (some shops close Sundays). Free entry.
Photo credits
- sahaflar-bazaar-hero.jpg by Picsum (Picsum Photos, CC0 (Public Domain))