Isfahan's Bazaar: Unfolding Change and Resistance in Three Acts

This thesis explores the historical formation, spatial evolution, and enduring resilience of the Isfahan Bazaar as a central institution in the urban fabric of Isfahan, Iran. Positioned at the crossroads of key trade routes between the Islamic East and West, Isfahan developed as a commercial and cultural hub over centuries, with its bazaar acting as both an economic engine and a stage for social interaction. Drawing on historical chronicles, architectural studies, and firsthand travel accounts, this research traces the bazaar’s transformation across three pivotal periods: its medieval origins, its Safavid-era expansion, and its post-Safavid decline and adaptation.
In the first act, the study focuses on medieval Isfahan, illustrating how the bazaar was embedded in the city’s early urban structure and supported by accounts from geographers and travelers such as Nasir Khusraw and al-Muqaddasi. Despite the destruction brought by the Mongol invasions, the bazaar remained central to the city’s identity and economic recovery. The second Act examines the Safavid period, particularly under Shah Abbas I, when Isfahan became the Safavid’s capital. The thesis explores how deliberate urban planning—centered around the creation of Naqsh-e Jahan Square and the Qeysarieh Bazaar—redefined the spatial logic and symbolic role of the marketplace. Drawing on theoretical analysis, the bazaar is examined as a system that achieved spatial continuity and functioned as a theatrical stage for the city through its modular design, integration of public and commercial functions, and flexible zoning organized around trade guilds and caravanserais.
The third act investigates the bazaar’s decline in the 18th and 19th centuries following political shifts and the relocation of the Iran’s capital. Despite these changes, the bazaar endured—its architecture adapting to new commercial patterns and urban transformations. Western travel accounts from this period, along with contemporary urban theories, support the argument that the bazaar’s resilience lies in its layered structure, which allows for both continuity and change. Rather than viewing the rise of modern shopping centers as evidence of the bazaar’s obsolescence, the thesis presents the Isfahan Bazaar as an evolving urban display capable of absorbing and responding to external pressures.
By interpreting the bazaar not merely as a commercial space but as a dynamic urban platform, this study contributes to broader debates on urban continuity, cultural memory, and the adaptive reuse of historic infrastructure. The findings suggest that the Isfahan Bazaar offers a powerful model for thinking about long-term sustainability in urban design—one rooted in flexibility, social integration, and the preservation of historical identity. Ultimately, the research calls for a reevaluation of what constitutes decline in urban contexts and challenges the binary framing of tradition versus modernity in architectural discourse.