The covered market in the centre of Kahramanmaraş is thought to have been built at the end of the sixteenth century. It runs north to south between the bedesten and the coppersmiths' market, and has eight entrances, one of them belonging to the bedesten.
It is among the earliest examples of the Ottoman covered market, and the prayer dome at its centre is what catches the eye. It holds 116 shops: ninety-eight inside and a further eighteen on the east and south fronts.
Together with the other old markets around it — those of the coppersmiths, the saddlers, the harness makers, the municipality, the mazman traders, the silk twisters, the blacksmiths and the alaca weavers — it has given shape to the commercial life of the region from the past to the present day.
The market is in the Kurtuluş quarter of Dulkadiroğlu and is easily reached from anywhere in the city by minibus, public bus or taxi.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Kahramanmaraş as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 4.9 °C in January to 28.5 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in April, May, June, September and October; rainfall is heaviest in December (131 mm) and lightest in August (2 mm). Long-term means for 1930-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
