Old Bazaar in Ardebil

Ardebil Bazaar, decorated in the architectural style of the Safavid era, is located in the center of the city of Ardebil.
The old bazaar is a set of timchehs (shopping rooms), saras, bathhouse, and mosque. It flourished in the 7th and 8th centuries AH.
In later centuries, a part of the enormous bazaar along with timchehs and saras were dedicated by Sheikh Safi Aldin Ardebili and the earnings and income of the bazaar were expended for the mausoleum.
The current building of the bazaar remains from the Safavid and Zand eras and was placed on the original foundation of the bazaar. The main part of the bazaar was destroyed in the last half-century after urban development and as a result the connection between other parts and the center of the bazaar was removed.
The bazaar is divided into grocers, butchers, saddlers, Gheisariyeh, knife makers, hat makers and other saras.
Ardebil Bazaar involves a subsidiary arcade, simple arches and domes, which reflect the works of the Safavid and Ghajar eras. It includes Rasteh, or the main trail of shops, like rastehs of Pir Abdolmalek, gheisariyeh, shoemakers, gholams, goldsmith, saddlers, cotton sellers, coppersmith, knife makers, and blacksmith, as well as Saras of dried nuts, Hagi Mirza, Golshan, Vakil, Now or Zanjirlu, Haj Ahmed, Haj Shear, Majidiyeh, Imam Jomeh, and Do Gachi, and Zanjirlu Timcheh.
The structure includes pointed arches,and simple covered domes and the width of arcades of the shops is 3m on average and the diameter of the arches' columns is about 80 cm. The light of the bazaar is supplied through the holes in domed structures.
Among other main parts of the bazaar is Chahar Sugh or Gheisariyeh Grand Bazaar. It is a circular building with a simple tall hemispherical dome. The diameter of the building is 12 m at the base and its approximate height is 13 m.
The lower part of the building contains 12 pillars with 12 pointed arches which make it possible for the dome to stand firmly. In the 8 pointed arches, there are shops and on the other 4 there stretches a corridor.
The historic bazaar of Ardebil was renovated by the Cultural Heritage Organization after the Islamic revolution and it joined the national sites list as number 1690.