Turkiye earthquakes damage historical Grand Bazaar in Kahramanmaras

An aerial view of the damage in 500-year-old Grand Bazaar caused by the twin earthquakes that hit southern provinces of Turkiye on Feb. 06 in the epicenter Kahramanmaras on February 21, 2023. [Omer Urer – Anadolu Agency]

A 14th-century bazaar in Turkiye’s south–eastern Kahramanmaras province, the epicentre of 6 February earthquakes, is one of the several historical structures damaged due to strong tremors in the city, Anadolu News Agency reports.

The historical Maras Grand Bazaar, consisting of nine entrances and 495 shops, was built in the 1500s by the Bozkurt of Dulkadir, or Alauddevle, – the chief of Turkish principality in Anatolia.

While some of the wood-and-stone-made shops around the market were destroyed, cracks appeared in others.

Besides shops, museums and mansions in the narrow streets around the marketplace, buildings that were restored and converted into hostels and cafes in the past years were also damaged in the quakes.

At least 42,300 people have died in the magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes that were centred in Kahramanmaras and struck 10 other provinces – Hatay, Gaziantep, Malatya, Adiyaman, Adana, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Osmaniye, Sanliurfa and Elazig.

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