The Bedesten

The Bedesten in Skopje is located inside the Skopje’s Old Bazaar, just above the western entrance of the Suli Lodging. Bedesten or “Bezisten" in Macedonian, is a compound word, consisting of the Arabic word bezz - "canvas", and the Persian (i)stan - "place of sale", meaning – place for selling canvases. It was later when, various types of goods were being sold in the bedestens, and even craft workshops were opened. The first bedesten in Skopje was built by Ishak Bey and was his waqf. The inscription positioned above the main entrance of the bedesten gives more information on its building. It is engraved on a stone slab and is written in a decorative non-talc letter, in verses in Turkish. The transcript reads:
"In this attractive city, long known and with a good name,
Constantly collapsing and rebuilding again,
Built by Gazi Ishak- Bey is this beautiful bedesten.
This philanthropist consecrated many properties.
In time, the bedesten collapsed and became a dump,
Since its walls are damaged and destroyed with bumps.
Here are the descendants of Ishak Bey, entrepreneurial people
Who renewed the bedesten with the help of God himself.
These are Mister Haji-Hussein, mister Osman and mister Jashar-Bey.
After this work, their reputation can be assessed.
As soon as he saw the renewal of the bedesten, this slave wrote the chronogram:
Look how high Skopje's bedesten has been built up again. "
Year 1317 (12.V 1899 - 30.IV 1900)
The old bedesten was located about one meter below the level of today's bedesten, had 2.6 meters thick stone walls, and was a vaulted bedesten, meaning it was covered with a system of several domes. It soon became the center of the commerce in the city and that’s why the bazaar was built around it. The bedesten was one of the most important buildings in the city. With its solid construction, it represented a safe place for storing valuables, merchant’s cash registers and guild’s archives. Today's bedesten covers the same area as the former one (775 m2). The bedesten has been destroyed several times throughout history. The fire of 1689 completely ruined it, but was later rebuilt again. The inscription on the plaque reveals that it was restored between the years 1899 and 1900. It has retained its shape ever since. The first more specific information regarding this building were obtained during the reconstruction of the new bedesten in 1964 and 1965, when the remains of the walls, its foundation, and two pillars were discovered. Currently, the bedesten resembles a stone building with a rectangular base, noticeably influenced by the western architecture. It has four entrances, positioned in the middle of the facades on all four sides. The interior consists of a system of alleys leading to the two-story shops lined up next to each other along the walls of the building. The shops are covered with a gable roof. In the central part two smaller, isolated two-story buildings are positioned. Today's bedesten, erected on the ruins of the former one, has the same dimensions i.e. the external size of the walls remained the same, about 0.5 meters thick, but despite that, today's bedesten in Skopje is completely different from the bedesten which was built on the same place in the XV century.