TEHRAN- A restoration work will soon commence on a fire-stricken courtyard, named Timcheh of Hajab al-Doleh and its surrounding trade spaces situated in the heart of the Grand Bazaar of Tehran, an official with Tehran Municipality has said. 

The project will be carried out in collaboration with the province’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Department, IRNA quoted Hossein Nazari as saying on Tuesday.

Timcheh of Hajab al-Doleh, which is registered in the national list of cultural heritage, is suffered minor damage from the fire that broke out in the bazaar earlier in February, the official added.

The firefighters' timely response and efforts in this incident are admirable, and without their careful management, the bazaar would have suffered irreparable damage, he noted. 

On February 12, a fire broke out in the Grand Bazaar of Tehran. Tehran’s tourism chief Parham Janfeshan announced that the fire occurred in an area that is treasured but not nationally registered. However, its neighboring Timcheh of Hajab al-Doleh is fortunately unaffected by the blaze. 

Firefighters were dispatched from five various stations to contain to fire as soon as possible, however, 30 shops were destroyed by the flames, the official added.

Situated in the heart of Tehran, the Grand Bazaar boasts various mazes, corridors, lanes, intersections, entrances, and passageways with hundreds of shops offering different types of goods and services. It is home to various Timches, which are small arcaded courtyards each dedicated to a single type of business.

While most of its covered structures and marketplaces are associated with the 19th century onwards, the history of trade in the bazaar is rooted much deeper in time.

Some visitors to the bazaar refer to it as “a city within a city” because it also includes several mosques, guesthouses, banks, and once-thriving caravansaries. Most mazes and lanes are particularly allocated to commodities such as carpets, metalwork, spices, toys, clothing, jewelry, woodturning, and kitchen appliances. Bookbinders, blacksmiths, tinsmiths, coppersmiths, tobacconists, tailors, flag sellers, broadcloth sellers, carpenters, shoemakers, and knife-makers, are among other businesses attracting locals and even foreign vacationers to the giant marketplace.

ABU/AFM