Ancient bazaar to serve tourism

DENİZLİ - Anatolia News Agency

The closed bazaar area in Denizli’s ancient city of Tripolis, which has been able to maintain its structural integrity and has prevented erosion by being underground, will be fully unearthed next year and open to tourism. AA photo

An ancient closed bazaar the city of Tripoli, located in the Aegean province of Denizli’s Buldan district, will be completely unearthed and restored for commercial activity.

According to Denizli Governor Abdülkadir Demir, Tripoli was one of the three most important cities in the 2nd century B.C. along with Hierapolis and Laodicea, and a center for trade, textiles and agriculture.

He said that various universities had carried out short-term excavations in the ancient city over the last 15 years, but added that these were insufficient. Currently, the Pamukkale University Archaeology Department is continuing to excavate the area. The project began over five months ago and has progressed quickly, with a target completion date of the end of 2013.

Structures still strong

“A closed and open bazaar was found and streets were completely unearthed in this period. Work will not stop during winter. Some 336,000 Turkish Liras have so far been allocated by the Culture and Tourism Ministry and Special Provincial Directorate [for the project] but we won’t accept any limitation for the allocation because we need to revive these cities within a very short time,” the governor said.

The closed bazaar area in the ancient city, which has been able to maintain its structural integrity and has prevented erosion by being underground, will be fully unearthed next year.

“We hope that the closed bazaar area will become a very important tourism attraction. We will organize this area for tourists by the end of 2013. People can establish shops there. This is very important work, according to information provided by scientists, the structures were very lucky to remain underground because of erosion. They seem like they were recently constructed. I believe that this place will become one of the most important tourism centers in the region.”

The deputy head of the excavation team, Associate Professor Bahadır Durman, said that the ancient city of Tripoli was completely filled with soil erosion. “We found strong structures 3.5 to 4 meters deep and one of them was the closed bazaar. We will have completely unearthed this place next year when the excavation is done. Most parts of the closed bazaar area still remain strong. There are similar structures in the area but they are damaged and there is no such strong bazaar structure. The closed bazaar area is in Tripoli only. There are also other public buildings and examples of civic architecture as well as open bazaar areas, baths, a theater and a very big stadium.”