Guide
The arasta was built to provide income for the Selimiye mosque: Murad III had it raised by the architect Davut Ağa for that purpose.
It runs 256 metres under 73 arches, with 124 shops along its two sides. Evliya Çelebi, the provincial directorate notes, wrote of it as the shoemakers' bazaar.
At the prayer dome, it says, the shopkeepers are known to have sworn each morning that they would trade honestly, and to have prayed there.
