| Kemeralti
is Izmir's -Turkey - historic market (bazaar) district. It
was originally formed around the street surrounding the shallow
inner bay of the city, which was filled in due course during
the 17th century, availing the bazaar to be extended to a
wider area. The street, that traces a wide curve and called
today as Anafartalar Street (Caddesi), and known historically
as the Street of the Mevlevis, in reference to the presence
of a "dergah" situated by the street, constitutes the principal
axis of Kemeralti. The district covers a vast area extending
from the level of the Agora of Smyrna (the quarters of Namazgah,
Mezarlikbasi and Ikiçesmelik), to the seashore along the Konak
Square. It remains one of the liveliest parts of Izmir.
The first step that paved the way for the emergence of the
present-day Kemeralti area was the building in 1592 of Hisar
Mosque. It is the oldest and one of the most significant Ottoman
landmarks in Izmir, although built by Aydinoglu Yakup Bey,
a descendant of the dynasty that had founded the Beylik of
the same name (Aydinoglu) which had controlled Izmir prior
to the Ottoman conquest. The name of the mosque, which means
"fortress", makes reference to the Genoese castle of "San
Pietro", previously called Neon Kastron in Byzantine times,
part of which used to stand on the same location and which
gradually disappeared in whole with the construction of new
buildings on its spot. The final remains of the castle were
cleared up during the construction of new port installations
between 1867-1876.
The
court of the 1744-built Kizlaragasi Han (caravanserai), with
1592-built Hisar Mosque in the background, in Kemeralti, Konak,
Izmir. The caravanserai is a cultural center and a touristic
attraction today.The market itself came into existence with
the filling between 1650-1670 of the shallowest parts of the
inner bay. The process of gaining ground from the bay was
pursued in 1744 with the construction of Kizlaragasi Han,
a still-standing impressive caravanserai that emerged as the
nucleus of the market, together with two older "hans", the
term implying a caravanserai with more markedly urban characteristics,
that could not reach our day. These were the "Great Vezir
Han" constructed by the 17th century grand vizier Köprülü
Fazil Ahmed Pasha, and the neighboring "Little Vezir Han"
constructed by his successor Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha.
Another historically important and no longer existing one
was "Cezayir Han" (literally "Han of Algiers"), from where
western Anatolia's excess labor force had been annually dispatched
to the Ottoman protectorate of Algiers for centuries. In fact,
among the hundred odd "hans" Kemeraltı counted until the beginning
of the 20th century, clearly visible on a 1905 map drawn by
French cartographers on behalf of international insurance
companies, only a dozen remains, in full or in part, while
most was destroyed during the 1922 Great Fire of Smyrna or
afterwards.
Map showing Kemeralti arterial Anafartalar/Mevleviler Street,
curving from bottom left upwards, the historic hans (caravanserais)
in orange, the 6 mosques in green and the 7 synagogues as
well as the Jewish community archive in yellow in Kemeralti
bazaar. The Agora of Smyrna is situated to the right immediately
beyond this map (see larger map)The remaining part of the
inner bay being allowed to silt up progressively throughout
the 18th century, the shoreline facing Kemeralti took its
present straight form in the beginning of the 19th, although
some of the land along the berth remained unused until the
end of that century. In 1829, Sari Kisla, the Yellow Casern,
the principal Ottoman casern of the city, gigantic for its
time, was built at immediate sea-side, and a private residence
(konak) situated slightly diagonally behind the casern was
extended and converted into the governor's mansion, demarcating
Konak Square that holds its name from the mansion, and which
in its turn gave the name to the central metropolitan district
of Izmir (Konak) and at the level of which Kemeralti is considered
to start. The governor's mansion still stands, although the
Yellow Casern was demolished in 1955 under express instructions
from the then Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, who wanted to
see Konak Square re-shaped, to the ongoing regret of many
Smyrniots who had come to adopt the oversize building as one
of the main landmarks of their city. |
