Bezisten Gallery
Domed Ottoman covered market in central Stip, restored as the town's exhibition gallery.
The Bezisten is Stip's Ottoman covered market, built between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as a secure hall for trading fabrics, jewellery and other high-value goods. Its massive stone walls rise in three stages to a dome, with small windows set high to light the interior without giving access from the street. Commerce here ended after the building was badly damaged during the Austro-Ottoman wars, and for long periods afterwards it stood empty or in secondary use.
A programme of conservation restored the shell and vaults, and the interior now works as the gallery of the town's museum service alongside the municipality. Three linked rooms under the brick vaulting are used for art exhibitions, book launches, small concerts and other events, with the bare stonework left visible as the backdrop. It sits in the lower town near the Otinja stream, within a short walk of the Isar fortress and the old bazaar quarter.
Highlights
- Ottoman covered market of the 16th or 17th century
- Stone walls rising in three stages to a dome
- Three vaulted rooms used for changing exhibitions
- Hosts book launches and small concerts as well as art
