TEHRAN – Another restoration project has commenced renovating paving stones at the historical bazaar of Shahroud in north-central Iran.

“So far, over 90 percent of the flooring has been paved with cobblestone since 1390 (2011-12) onwards,” Shahroud tourism official said on Saturday.

The Qajar-era (1789-1925) bazaar embraces three caravanserais, two Timches (small arcaded courtyards each dedicated to a single type of business), and a public bathhouse, Hamidreza Hassani said.

Furthermore, the bazaar is home to over 250 shops in an area of 2,500 square meters, the official added.

In the Iranian culture, bazaars have been traditional public spaces in the Iranian cities with great contributions to commercial activities in urban life meanwhile their extended activities can be traced to social, cultural, political, and religious roles.

Most mazes and passages offer certain commodities such as carpets, metalwork, toys, clothing, jewelry, kitchen appliances, traditional spices, herbal remedies, and natural perfumes. One can also bump into colorful grocery stores, bookbinders, blacksmiths, tinsmiths, coppersmiths, tobacconists, tailors, flag sellers, broadcloth sellers, carpenters, shoemakers, and knife-makers.

Several divided carpet sections across the bazaar enable visitors to watch or buy hand-woven Persian carpets and rugs with different knot densities and other features. From another point of view, bazaars are also synonyms for foods, with their unmissable colorful stalls of vegetables, herbs, and spices. Yet, most of these ingredients might be mysterious to a foreign eye.

AFM