Isparta

Isparta lies in the lake country of southwestern Anatolia, among fertile basins and high mountains north of the Mediterranean. Its busy markets brought together the products of the surrounding countryside. Mosques and commercial buildings in the centre recall the Ottoman patrons who endowed the town after it had formed part of the Hamidid principality.

In the sixteenth century Firdevs Bey commissioned a mosque and a covered market in Isparta. The bedesten, built in 1561, generated revenue for the mosque's endowment. Shops, baths and other religious buildings gathered around the commercial centre as the town grew. The pairing of market and mosque made the exchange of goods part of a foundation that supported worship and the maintenance of a prominent public building.