The Bahcekapi district is located in the borough of Eminonu in Istanbul. For centuries it has been at the heart of business life in the city, located as it is close by Istanbul's train link to Europe, Sirkeci, the famous Galata Bridge, the Egyptian Bazaar, Tahtakale, Sultanhaman and what were once the Offices of the Grand Vizier. It was in Bahcekapi in 1777 that confectioner Bekir Effendi (later Haci Bekir) opened his small shop, using a stove in the room at the rear section for production. The premises was 33 m² and became the size it is today (88 m²) when, at a later date, the spice shop next door was added. The premises still operates today as a confectionery shop, managed by the fifth generation of the Haci Bekir family.

Bahçeşehir Mağaza

Front view of the original shop

Bahçeşehir Mağaza

Front view after the restoration

The building ,which had two storeys above the shop, was restored in 1989; the restoration project was undertaken by Doğan Şahin.

The authentic building is of Maltese stone with a plastered facade, and the roof is of wood with a tile overlay.

This meticulous restoration also exposed once again the marble columns with bronze collars on either side of the shop entrance, and the marble block lintels which, resting on two wrought iron pillars, constituted the shop window display area. Also conserved in its original condition was the ironwork canopy which stretches out over the shop front. Roll top metal shutters of a style true to those which would have been in place originally were also attached to the shop front at this time.

1777

View of the old shop counter (1777)

Günümüz

View of the counter today

At the rear of the shop, the original stove area and surround used by Haci Bekir was carefully restored, as was the roof chimney pot. In their work on the counter area, shelving and the flower-decorated grille work on the ceiling the restorers remained faithful to the view of the shop in Prezioso's painting 'The Confectioner' and have left us with a three-dimensional representation of this painting.

Mağaza Yeni Görünüm

Interior of the shop as it is today

The floor is of marble from the Marmara region in the north west of Turkey. The restoration project in its entirety, by exposing the various woods and other materials used in columns, on the ceiling and in the shop window, cast light on the details of the various constructions used in the shop over the two hundred years it has been in operation.

The shop is now registered as a protected site under the laws governing the conservation of Turkey's natural and cultural wealth. As a result, and coupled with the fame of the Haci Bekir name in the folklore of Ottoman-Turkish culture, it has become an object of great interest to both locals and tourists.