Gaziantep Coppersmith Bazaar

Gaziantep's old market survives as a working trading quarter rather than a restored one, and it is organised the traditional way, by trade. The Bakırcılar Çarşısı is the coppersmiths' street: a run of open workshops where sheet copper is beaten over forms into pots, trays, coffee sets, cauldrons and the deep pans used for local cooking, tinned inside by hand, with the hammering audible from several streets away. Around it are the Zincirli Bedesten, the Elmacı and Almacı pazars, and a set of restored hans - Anadolu, Kürkçü - now holding cafés and shops. Other trades hold their own lanes: yemenici shoemakers, kutnu weavers making the striped silk-cotton cloth of the region, and the sedefkâr workshops inlaying mother-of-pearl into wood, a craft Gaziantep is known for. Spice and pistachio merchants fill their own section. It is dense, loud, cheap and genuinely commercial, and it is one of the best bazaars in the country.

What you actually see

• The coppersmiths - sheet copper beaten and tinned by hand.
• The mother-of-pearl inlay - sedefkâr workshops at work.
• The kutnu weavers - the striped local cloth.
• The spice and pistachio lanes - the food trades' own section.

When to go

April to May and October to November - Gaziantep summers are severe. Weekday mornings, when the workshops are working; much closes on Sundays.

Honest expectations

These are working premises, not displays - ask before photographing craftsmen. The bazaar is crowded and confusing. Copper is heavy; think about carrying it home.

Nearby

The castle and the Zeugma mosaic museum are close; the culinary museum is in the same quarter.