Semiz Ali Pasha Arasta, Edirne

أرستا سميز علي باشا، أدرنة

A ~300-metre covered market arcade built by Sinan in 1568 for grand vezir Semiz Ali Pasha; 126 vaulted shops, repaired after a 1992 fire.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Gunpowder Empires
Region
Anatolia
Review
Draft Completeness 3/5 · Help complete it

Architecture

Summary

The Semiz Ali Pasha arasta — known locally as the Kapalı Çarşı — is an old Ottoman market one block west of the bedesten, built by Sinan in 1568 for Semiz Ali Pasha, another of Süleyman's grand vezirs 1.

Form

A narrow stone-and-brick structure some 300 metres long with 126 vaulted shops flanking a central corridor, its arch voussoirs alternating red and white stone and gateways on all sides; badly damaged by fire in 1992, it has since been repaired 1.

For young visitors

A tunnel-like shopping street Sinan built in 1568 — it burned in 1992 and came back to life.

Curatorial notes

  • Source read: Freely, A History of Ottoman Architecture (2011), p. 101 (Semiz Ali Pasha Arastası).
  • Record created in this batch.

People and things also explored

Abu Dulaf Mosque, Samarra· Great Mosque of Adana· Ahi Çelebi Mosque, Istanbul· al-Aqmar Mosque, Cairo· al-Attarine Madrasa, Fez· Great Mosque of Samarra· al-Janad Mosque, Ta'izz· al-Mansur Mosque (Kasbah Mosque), Marrakesh

Sources

  1. John Freely, A History of Ottoman Architecture (2011) , p.101
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Semiz Ali Pasha Arasta, Edirne”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/building/semiz-ali-pasha-arasta-edirne/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-23.

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