Old Bazaar (Korça)

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Alley of the Old Bazaar

The Old Bazaar of Korça ( Albanian  Pazari i Vjetër ) is the historic bazaar district from the Ottoman era of the city of Korça in Albania . At the southern end of the quarter are the mosque of Ilyas Mirahor , the first in the city and one of the oldest in the country, as well as the replica clock tower of Korça .

The old trading and market district is located west of the city center and used to be outside the city to protect it from the risk of fire and the noise of the market. Once a meeting place for merchants from Turkey , Greece , Venice and Trieste , many houses in the bazaar are now dilapidated or neglected.

Korça only developed into a trading center in the second half of the 18th century after the neighboring town of Voskopoja had been destroyed. The bazaar has burned down in large parts several times over the centuries. There were four major fires in the 19th century alone. After the fire of 1879, the stone houses were rebuilt instead of wood as before. The bazaar had its heyday in the 19th and early 20th centuries, when over 1,000 shops were to be found. The bazaar quarter consists of alleys, two wide squares and mostly two-story buildings on an area of ​​just over a hundred by two hundred meters. The houses had shops and workshops on the ground floor and apartments above. Some of the alleys and squares have been given a new pavement in recent years.

The market lost its importance when the communists nationalized trade after World War II. The district was originally larger than it is today: the street that borders the bazaar to the east used to be a river; the bazaar area stretched on both sides and was connected by bridges. Once there were 18 hane ( caravanserais ) at the bazaar , which served as accommodation for the traveling merchants and as marketplaces. Each Han was primarily intended for commercial travelers from a specific region. Only three are preserved: the Han i Gjelit , the Han i Manastirit and the Elbasan-Han . The latter two buildings were built around an inner courtyard. The Elbasan Han has a pentagonal courtyard with a fountain; on the ground floor there were storage rooms and stables, above the guest rooms. It still serves as simple accommodation today. The Han i Manastirit named after Bitola with its rectangular inner courtyard was partly used as an exhibition room. A few years ago this building was renovated and converted into a shopping center, regardless of the historical substance.

Restored place in the evening after "shop closing"

The old bazaar is protected as a national cultural asset. The first restoration work was also carried out in the 1980s. Nevertheless, many houses are in a very bad state of preservation; some have also collapsed in recent years. In the summer of 2014, the authorities announced that around 130 buildings in the bazaar would be renewed as part of a renewal program for the city of Korça, in particular to make it attractive to tourists. In 2017, the renovation of the bazaar, which cost around US $ 1.7 million and included the renovation of numerous historic houses, was completed.

A market was held every morning in the old bazaar until well into the 21st century. Farmers from the Korça area sold vegetables and animals, and traders offered cheap imported plastic, clothing and household appliances. The residents of the houses were mostly very poor, including many Roma .

After the market was restored in 2017, there were repeated complaints that the bazaar had lost its original character. There is no market activity and the majority of the business premises, which are only available for around 20 different business activities, are not let. A few cafés and restaurants have settled around the central square, but the rest of the area is largely unused.

Most houses are privately owned, but ownership rights are often problematic.

Web links

Commons : Old Bazaar (Korçë)  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Guntram Koch: Albania . DuMont, Cologne 1989, ISBN 3-7701-2079-5 , p. 188 f .
  2. ^ A b c d e Meike Gutzweiler: Travel Know-How Albania . Peter Rump, Bielefeld 2014, ISBN 978-3-8317-2442-0 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Shpresa Prifti: The Bazaar of Korca . Ed .: Institute of Monuments of Culture. March 10, 2004 ( Complete document [PDF; accessed January 7, 2015] European Commission - Council of Europe Joint Program: Integrated Rehabilitation Project Plan / Survey of the Architectural and Archaeological Heritage (IRPP / SAAH)).
  4. ^ Machiel Kiel : Ottoman architecture in Albania (1385-1912) . In: Research Center for Islamic History, Art and Culture (Ed.): Islamic art series . tape 5 . Istanbul 1990, ISBN 92-9063-330-1 , pp. 163 .
  5. ↑ Revitalization of the old Korça bazaar . In: German-Albanian Friendship Society (Hrsg.): Albanische Hefte . No. 2 , 2008, ISSN  0930-1437 , p. 7 .
  6. ↑ Korça - Çelësi tourism . Tirana 2009, ISBN 978-99956-677-3-3 , pp. 39 .
  7. ↑ Gëzim ashimi: HANET në pazarin e Vjetër të dhe Korçës degradimi i tire. In: Shqip. August 20, 2012, accessed on January 7, 2015 (Albanian): "Nga 18 hane, kanë mbetur vetëm tre, të cilat janë drejt shkatërrimit"
  8. ^ Photo of the building on Wikimedia
  9. ↑ Jorgjeta Gjançi: Korça, 200 year old building in ruins. In: Albanian Screen. September 27, 2012, archived from the original on January 8, 2015 ; accessed on January 7, 2015 .
  10. ↑ Korçë shembet, godina shekullore. In: vizionplus.tv. April 30, 2014, archived from the original on January 7, 2015 ; Retrieved January 7, 2015 (Albanian).
  11. ↑ Restaurim për ndërtesat e vjetra të të Pazarit Korçës. In: TV Klan. September 6, 2014, accessed October 4, 2019 (Albanian).
  12. ↑ Old Bazaar of Korca to transform into a hub for tourists due to $ 4 ml restoration project • IIA. Retrieved August 30, 2020 (American English).
  13. ↑ Urim Shera: Project on restoration and revitalization of landmark Korça bazaar enters final phase. Agjencia Telegrafike Shqiptare, January 31, 2017, accessed on August 14, 2017 .
  14. ^ Karl Kuçi: Rilindja Urbane falimenton Pazarin e vjetër të Korçës. In: Exit. June 9, 2017, Retrieved August 14, 2017 (Albanian).
  15. ↑ Eftjola Fili: Pazari i i Vjetër Korçës, tregtarët i vein kyçin dyqaneve. In: Konica.al. June 10, 2017, archived from the original on August 14, 2017 ; Retrieved August 14, 2017 (Albanian).

Coordinates: 40 ° 37 ′ 3 ″  N , 20 ° 46 ′ 29 ″  E