The Bazaar of Pristina (; ) was the core merchandising center of the Old Pristina, Kosovo since the 15th century, when it was built. It played a significant role in the physical, economic, and social development of Pristina. The Old Bazaar was destroyed during the 1950s and 1960s, following the modernization slogan of "Destroy the old, build the new". In its place, buildings of Kosovo Assembly, Municipality of Pristina, PTT, and Brotherhood and Unity socialist square were built. Nowadays, instead of PTT building resides the Government of Kosovo building. Only few historical buildings, such as the Bazaar Mosque and ruins of the Bazaar Hammam have remained from the Bazaar complex. Since then, Pristina has lost part of its identity, and its cultural heritage has been scattered.
History Bazaars (English marketplace, Turkish pazar, Serbian базар, Albanian çarshia) were unique trading complexes developed in the towns of Kosovo and elsewhere in the Balkans, while the area came under the Ottoman Empire. They were built during the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, reaching their final shape in the 19th century. These traditional complexes were developed in two types: the Covered Bazaar or Bezistan and the Open Bazaar. While the first was a closed complex of stores, the second was characterized by consecutive rows of crafts shops, where on Tuesdays merchants exposed their products. Before their construction, people used to expose their crafts on the mosque walls, at the time being practiced only in Albanian towns.
In the 13th century, Pristina was referred to as a "village", and in 1525 as a town, but was officially recognized only in 1775. During the 14th and 15th centuries, it became an important mining and trading center. As a Medieval trading center, the first merchants' shops emerged in the 16th century. In 1660, Evliya Çelebi claims that Pristina had a market area (Bazaar), a hammam, 11 khans and about 300 different shops. Shops were located in the Old Bazaar, which in the 18th and 19th century, was the most important economic entity. According to Ammie Boue, in 1830, the Old Bazaar was the central core of Pristina. At this time (1840), Bazaar of Pristina had around 200 crafts shops.
At this time, Pristina was also known for the tradesmen and craftsmen organized fairs. The first and biggest fair was in 1879, where 1200-1500 people were present. Branislav Nušić, the vice-consul of Kingdom of Serbia, after visiting Pristina in 1893–96, claimed that it had the liveliest trade. According to Nušić, in 1902 Pristina had 500 shops, 12 khans, 12 mosques, 1 Clock tower, and some warehouses. Between two World Wars, Pristina had 240 shops, mostly focused in the Old Bazaar. In the verge of Second World War, there were 365 private crafts shops, practicing about 60 different crafts. After the war, economy was industrialized, and crafts started fading.
Urban and social context of the Bazaar
Urban context
The Old Bazaar of Pristina was located in the core center of Pristina, exactly at the intersection of the two main roads, which influenced its physical, economic, and social developments. These arteries were the east–west direction or Divan-Yoll (today UÇK Street), and the north–south road (Corso, today Mother Teresa boulevard). Divan-Yoll was distinguished for the development of public domain and social life of the inhabitants, while the other road was important for the economic development. Along the north–south artery, a convoy of caravans were passing through to the other important cities of the Balkans, which influenced the development of Pristina.
On the other hand, bazaars were preferable to be located close to rivers, therefore Bazaar of Pristina was located approximately in-between Vellusha and Prishtevka rivers. Nowadays, both these rivers are covered. It was surrounded by Bedri Pejani Street in the west, UÇK Street in the north, Agim Ramadani Street in the east, and Mother Theresa Boulevard in the south. The most crowded area with shops was at the nowadays Government area.
Bazaar was not preliminary planned, but spontaneously developed along the organic network of roads. The main streets intersected at a rhombic square with a Round Fountain in the middle. These narrow roads were paved with cobblestones or macadam, and were kept very clean. In the 1950s, law for cleaning the streets was approved, according to which citizens were supposed to clean their gardens, shops, and streets, and then pile the garbage, which was later taken away by a phaeton. The Bazaar's streets were composed of parallel rows of single-story jointed shops. The residential areas were located outside the Bazaar, in a radial direction.
Architectural context
The bazaar was structured accordingly with the practiced crafts; hence each craft had its own alley. This principle was inherited from the Eastern Roman Empire. Bazaar stores were made of three main materials: adobe, wood, and stone. Masonry was made of adobe and stone. The roof structure, frontal facade, windows and eventually floor and ceiling were made of wood. From both functional and architectural viewpoints, the most important element of the stores was its frontal facade. The bazaar shops’ street facades were characterized by long eaves, large wooden windows, and multifunctional window shutters. During the day, while the shops were open, these wooden shutters were used as exposition racks. Opening and closing of the frontal shutters beside the door indicated whether the store was open or not for customers.
In general, bazaar shops were architecturally designed as single-story constructions, where the ground floor area was used for crafts-working, exposition, and trading area. Shortly, the same space was used for storing the raw material, manufacturing the artisanal products, and later exposing them for sale. Sometimes, besides the ground floor they also had an upper floor, mostly used as depot. Only during the second half of the 19th century they had two stories above. Among the shops, there were also some small cafes serving coffee, tea, and occasionally rakia.
The residential areas were located outside the Bazaar, in a radial direction, in the organic mahallas of Pristina. Houses were built on ground and first floor levels, which were constructed of strong materials and covered with tiles. Despite the influences of European architecture, their architecture remained native. These houses had great gardens, surrounded by exterior walls for family protection and privacy.
Social context
Bazaar was the most important trade and crafts center. It was famous for its annual trade fairs and goat hide and hair articles. Most notable traders were Jews, who were relatively educated and besides their own language also spoke Turkish, Serbo-Croatian, and Albanian. Bazaar of Pristina was also visited by other traders, mostly by Ragusans (from nowadays Dubrovnik), who became a vast colony. Being in such crossroads, Bazaar served as a linkage of local and other foreign craftsmen.
Craftsmanship and commerce networks were organized in guilds. Guilds were an Ottoman model of the corporate economy organizations. They protected economic, social, political, military, religious, educational and other craftsmen interests. These guilds had a common voluntary fund, which was used to financially support poor and ill craftsmen, to educate young artisans, to establish schools and build some public buildings. On the other hand, they controlled the economic life, especially the tanners and bakers guilds, which controlled the prices.
Besides trading, Bazaar of Pristina was also the main place for public encounters. Its shops were also used for blood feud reconciling, selling and purchasing of property, affiancing procedures, setting of marriage dates, developing patriotic feelings, and cultivating trust or Besa. Closeness of shops made people get closer with each other. There was a lot of respect among them. People used to hang around and drink tea with each other in front of their shops. Whenever a new shop opened, people used to throw coins on the ground, believing that this superstitious act would bring fortune. Other signs of good luck were horseshoes, and garlic head or horn.
Important building landmarks
Bazaar Mosque Bazaar or Çarshi Mosque was initially started in 1389 as a mark of Ottoman forces victory in Kosovo Was, and finished in the beginning of the 15th century, by Sultan Bayazid. It was the first mosque built in Kosovo. By that time, it used to overlook over the covered part of Bazaar. Since then, Bazaar Mosque has gone through significant changes, being initially repaired in 1820 and 1902 by Sulltan Abdylhamid II. As a result, its original look has been modified, but the stone-topped minaret, its distinguishing symbol, has been preserved for more than a half millennium, respectively 600 years. Carshı Mosque is also known as ‘Tas Mosque’, which literally means ‘Stone Mosque’. Bazaar It is one of 21 protected buildings in Pristina, listed since 1967.
Bazaar Hammam Bazaar or Old Hammam is assumed to have been built in the 15th century, approximately at the same time as the Great Hammam of Pristina. As a public bath for cleaning and recreation, it was an important part of Bazaar. The Old Hammam was located just in front of the Bazaar Mosque. Following the destruction of the Baazar, Hammam was ruined too. Its stone foundations were found during the construction of today's Kosovo Assembly building, in 1959. Besides of their listing for state protection, they were covered and no further researches of the Hammam building and site have been made.
Khan Khans or inns were specific buildings located in Pristina's bazaar that offered accommodation for traders and their animals, serving as a facilitation of trade. Khan consisted of two floors. Ground floor was a shelter for animals, whereas the upper one was a shelter for people. There were served coffee, tea, and food. In 1870–1880, Pristina possessed around 10 Khans. Before Second World War there were 3 khans located in Korzo Street in the Old Bazaar.
Bezistan In 1830, Pristina had a Covered Bazaar known as Bezistan. Among the inhabitants it was also known as "Kapalı Çarshı", according to the Turkish language. This structure was a distinguished road with parallel consecutive shops, surrounded by walls and closed with huge arched doors at both sides of the road. It was covered with bricks for around 15–20 meters at its entrance. The high security enabled safety provisions while trading valuable goods. The covered complex had nearly 150-200 crafts shops. Interior of the Bezistan was attractive and interesting, thus resembling the bazaars of many oriental kasabas. Covered Bazaar is supposed to have been located in the southern part of the Open Old Bazaar, in-between Carshı Mosque in the east and Korzo Street in the west; nowadays, approximately near the building of Assembly of Kosovo. In its western exit, between the crafts shops, complex was The Round Sadirvanc(“Shadërvani Rrethor”) with one fountain-head and concrete tub. Water from the fountain on the lower part of Bazaar, was used for maintaining the shops and other needs of inhabitants.
Synagogue Synagogue, named "Havra-Sinagoga", was located in the southwestern part of the Bazaar, near the end of the Bezistan. It was used by Jews for their Saturday rituals. These Jews living in Pristina, were owners of many shops and their houses were lined along the Divan-Yol Street.
Bazaar Tekke Bazaar Tekke was located near the western exit of the Covered Bazaar. It has also been destroyed.
Shops and crafts