Chorsu Bazaar

If you have just arrived in Asia for the first time, you should go straight to Chorsu Bazaar, one of the most important markets in the region and a fascinating place to get a feeling of what the ancient Silk Road trade used to be. It is primarily a locals’ market and a great place to be immersed in Uzbekistan’s unique cultural blends.

Text by John Reinhard

Photos by Marleen Tutenel

The bazaar is the heart of many Asian cities: the centre of public life and the breadwinner. In ancient times, bazaars appeared at the intersections of trade routes and in the main squares of cities. They were the meeting points for merchants, traders and common people to gather for news, trade or to have a rest in a cosy chaikhana (cafe) eating plov and drinking green tea. Bazaars were the main entertainment spaces, too, often hosting theatrical performances.

History of Chorsu Bazaar

Tashkent’s Chorsu Bazaar has long been one of the busiest bazaars in Central Asia, particularly because it was located on the Silk Road. The Soviets constructed a building for it, covered in an iconic, Brutalist blue dome. After the conquest of Tashkent by the Russians in 1865, large construction works started in the city that divided it into new and old parts along the narrow and fast city canal. Tashkent Old City is older than its new neighbour by about a thousand years. It is home to many Central Asian antiquities, such as mosque complexes with minarets, and at its centre is not a square but the great Chorsu Bazaar.

Though not the centre of the city as it once was, Chorsu Bazaar is still the heart of Tashkent and serves as one of its major landmarks. Chorsu has existed continuously since at least the Mongol invasion in 1220. Over the decades, the bazaar’s blue dome has become one of the symbols of Tashkent. It still brilliantly blends into traditional Uzbek architecture, which is marked by centuries-old domed markets, such as those in Bukhara, Samarkand and Shahrisabz.

The design

The style of a covered market complex first came into use in the 11th to 13th centuries. Built in 1980, the market was one of the many buildings in Central Asia developed under the Soviet regime during the second half of the 20th century. Soviet architects designed and built the vast, mosaic-covered domes and blue-and-turquoise ‘space bubbles’ that give the bazaar’s skyline its distinctive shape. The market provides protection from the heat and dust in Tashkent’s dry climate.

The central dome is the most recognisable symbol of the market. It is the winter three-storey building of the bazaar with an elevator system. The lowest storey consists of basement passages with numerous back rooms. The middle and upper floors contain rows of shops. The magnificent main dome is patterned with Uzbek ornaments and has a diameter of around 350 metres.

It exudes the architectural starkness typical of Soviet Modernism. However, the blue and turquoise tiling decorating its dome looks decidedly Islamic. The blending of these two styles is visually arresting. It's also a far cry from the drab, soulless designs often associated with Soviet-era architecture.

What to buy

The bazaar contains almost everything needed for daily life, from food to clothes. Carefully woven carpets sit next to glistening ceramics, which in turn are neighbours of shiny watermelons, plump raisins and juicy apricots. It is the local source of spices, vegetables, dried fruits, toasted bread (lepeshka), fresh meat, and kazy (horse meat sausage). Venture further in and you’ll eventually find shoe stores, handicraft shops, stalls that sell traditional clothing, and row after row of duppi, the traditional Uzbek men’s cap.