TEHRAN – A team of three Iranian and eight German restorers has commenced a project to bring Charsou-Bozorg – part of Tehran’s historic grand bazaar - back to its former glory. 

Charsou, literally meaning “four directions”, is located in the heart of Tehran’s grand bazaar. It bears intricate plasterwork designs, paintings and tilework amongst other ornamentation all beneath a massive brick-dome. 

The month-long project is being carried out under a memorandum of understanding signed between Iran’s Research Institute of Cultural Heritage & Tourism and the Faculty of Architecture of the RWTH Aachen University, Mehr reported on Tuesday. 

Charsou-Bozorg has not been rehabilitated since 1977. It leads visitors to various mazes, intersections, entrances and passageways.

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

Inscribed on the National Cultural Heritage list, the bazaar is sometimes referred to as “a city within a city” because it also includes several mosques, guesthouses, banks, and once thriving caravansaries.  

Photo: German and Iranian restorers overhaul a piece of plasterwork at Charsou-Bozorg 

AFM/MQ/MG