Bedesten

What to see at Bedesten

• The Bedesten began as a 6th-century basilica, and parts of that Byzantine church are still kept inside the present building.
• Its north-east chapel was chosen to hold medieval gravestones, some of them brought from the Selimiye Mosque.
• It stands next to the Selimiye Mosque, and the Ottomans used it as the city's covered market.

History of Bedesten

6th century

A basilica is built on the site.

12th–16th century

The larger church of today is built and rebuilt in Lusignan and Venetian times.

Ottoman period

The Ottomans turn the church into the city's covered market, a bedesten.

1948

Medieval gravestones are fixed in the north-east chapel.

Visiting Bedesten

Allow about half an hour. The Bedesten stands next to the Selimiye Mosque in the walled city of Lefkoşa (Nicosia). A car park is mapped about 50 m away, and intercity buses stop at Kyrenia Gate, about 650 m on foot. The building is used for events.

Monuments near Bedesten

• Selimiye Mosqueabout 50 m north-eastLefkoşa's Gothic cathedral, now a mosque with two minarets.
• Saçaklı Evabout 100 m eastAn Ottoman house used as a culture centre.
• Büyük Hanabout 150 m westAn Ottoman caravanserai built in 1572, around a courtyard with a mosque.