Old Bazaar (Gjakova)

Within the mosque’s complex were the hamam (Turkish bath) which was destroyed in 2008, the building of the old library, from 1671 (burnt by Serbian forces during the war of 1999 and totally ruined in 2000) and also meytepi from 1777.

[1] Grand Bazaar of Gjakova arose with the appearance of the first craftsmen and the artisan processing produce; it arose then when Gjakova obtained the kasaba (small town) status, when in 1003 H (1594/95), Selman Hadim Aga donated some public facilities, which he had built himself to religious institutions the Hadum Mosque, a meytep (elementary religious school), a library, a muvakit-hane, “a building for measuring the time and determining the calendar by means of astrolabic quadrates", a public bath (hamam), an inn and some shops.

However, the first direct facts about the Grand Bazaar were provided by the Turk traveloguer[check spelling] Evlia Çelebi, who visited Gjakova in 1662 and, it seems, was amazed by the beauty and treasure of the city and of Gjakovar citizens.

As a master of luxurious guns producing, which at that time were requested without any distinction by all the social classes, he managed to create, in this century, “the people's school" of this trade, known until today by his name.

He would express himself that “the most beautiful saddles, filigree products, the golden sword handles making and the decorations of yatagans and pistols were produced here from hard-working people.

In the towns of Peja and Gjakova filigree works in gold and silver are made, which are much better than those of Malta, both from the artistic sense expressed in their motives and in the weaving and wonderful finesse of these items.

Referring to the gunsmithery tradition, Theodor Ippen, among other things, wrote, “…Earlier, in Shkodra, Prizren, and in Gjakova, there were large gunsmith, long rifle, and side-handgun and yataghan workshops.

In a letter sent to prince Milos, on 6 October 1837, it is said that in Gurgusovac there is a gunsmith from Gjakova, Bajram Mustafa with his two sons-apprentices, against whom the local craftsmen were complaining.

However, according to Franz Noptsche, Gjakova became well-known later also for the producing of "martin" type guns and was a strong competitor in selling this product in the home market.

White woollen cap makers from Gjakova set up their workshops also in Shkup, in Tetova, in Pazar i Ri, in Sjenica and in Sarajevo.

The foreman of white woolen cap makers’ guild in Gjakova, which was not as strong as the others in the time of Turkey, was mentioned to have been Jup Bakalli.

The year book ("Salname") of Prizren Vilayet of 1874 used to mention the great number of tailors (“terzis”), tanners (“tabaks”) and embroiderers.

Sami Frasheri claimed that the Gjakova craftsmen “sew nice costumes weave the galloon, produce "sole", shoes and other products”.

An old craft practised until recently was the one of fur processing with domestic and wild animal leather, such as those of suckling lambs, of foxes, of beech marten etc.

[6] It is worth mentioning that Gjakova was known in the whole region of Dukagjini Plain mostly for the development of pipe-makers craft, whilst the center for Kosovo was Pristina.

In the past this craft was carried out also by silversmiths, who took care particularly of decoration of long pipes and weavers, who wove with silky galloons parts of the smoking set.

[7] The carpenters, who had their shops, many in the Box-makers Street, but also in other parts of the Grand Bazaar and other parts of the city, worked and carved with hand tools objects for daily needs in household, in building and in artisan workings, such as boxes and housewife boxes for brides, cradles and hammocks for children, boards for braziers and brassieres; school desks, folding chairs for reading, bookcases, shelves and ceiling decorations, decorations and carvings for rifle butts, coffins and equipment for Muslim and Christian corpses etc.

The most famous carpenters were the families of Qarri, Kusari, Canamusa, Alushi and Cana of Dallt, Rasim and Ymer Tullumi, Tafil Morinaa, Ismet Saliuka etc.

In the second half of the 19th century Bajram Jusuf Doli (1833–1917), a non-exhausting handwriting copier was mentioned, who, in addition to the craft of the bookbinder, also practiced the profession of a teacher.

We know only that in Gjakova used to live in the second half of the 19th century the well-known singer and musician Ramadan Gunga, who supported his family by his craft of a master of musical instruments production, such as sharkhis, two-stringed lutes, etc., that his beautiful sharkhis were decorated with a mother-of-pear eagle and with ivory spots, that he had a shop and that on the market day he played nice melodies to advertise his ware.

This craft was practiced, along with their basic vocation, also by the carpenters and wood-carvers, who mostly dealt with mending the broken instruments, such as the well-known master in Gjakova, Rasim Tullumi.

The Gjakovar traders and craftsmen used to sell their product not only in Grand Bazaar, but also in many markets in other towns of Ottoman Empire, of Serbia and Austria.

The dense development of foreign trade suggested the need for hotel-keeping facilities, where the traders and pack animals, as the only means of goods transport, would rest.

Almost all the houses of the citizens of Gjakova had alongside the large front door at the end of the large yard, a dwelling/housing facility, which consisted a room for known and unknown guests, with a fireplace, a bathroom and a separate toilet; a livery stable for placing the pack animals and the hayloft above it for keeping the animal food (nutrition), then the wheat wooden case (granary), maize case etc.

The houses of beys, agas and of middle classes were in the form of towers with two or three floors, in a more beautiful style than those of the village, like fortresses with large yards, at the end of which was the guests' quarter (selamllek).

Inns were similar in function to the present-day hotels, whilst caravanserais, as the word itself suggests, served for placing the passengers and their pack animals that participated in the caravan for carrying the goods.

A hotel was also mentioned in Gjakova, which was state owned property to hotel-keepers with high fees, who often reached up to 300 thousand piastres a year.

The message of Kosovo's Bektashi spiritual leader, father Mumin Lamas, “Without the homeland there is no religion.” This tekke—or temple—used to be an education center for many generations, but during the last conflict, its rich library was completely destroyed.

[13] Home to Gjakova’s mystical Bektashi order, this modern tekke painted in traditional green and white colours was built in 2007 on the foundations of the original.

As a town experiencing rapid economic development, Gjakova acquired its clock tower shortly after the construction of the Hadum’s Mosque.