The Grand Bazaar (Turkish: Kapalıçarşı, meaning "Covered Bazaar"; also: Turkish: Büyük Çarşı, meaning "Grand Bazaar" ) in Istanbul is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with 61 covered streets and over 3,000 shops which attract between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily.

The Grand Bazaar is located inside the walled city of Istanbul, in the district of Fatih and in the neighborhood (Turkish: Mahalle) bearing the same name ("Kapalıçarşı"). It stretches roughly from west to east between the mosques of Beyazit and of Nuruosmaniye. The Bazaar can easily be reached from Sultanahmet and Sirkeci by tram ( Line "T1", tram stop "Beyazıt-Kapalıçarşı").

The construction of the future Grand Bazaar's core started during the winter of 1455/56, shortly after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople. Sultan Mehmet II had an edifice erected devoted to the trading of textiles. In its name, Cevâhir Bedestan (English: Gems Bedesten; but also in Ottoman Turkish: Bezzâzistan-i- cedîd, meaning in English: New Bedesten) the word "Bedesten" is an alteration of the Persian word bezestan (bedesten), derived from bez ("cloth"), and means "bazaar of the cloth sellers". The building - named alternately in Turkish "İç" (English: Internal), "Atik" (English: Ancient), or "Eski" (English: Old) Bedesten - lies on the slope of the third hill of Istanbul, between the ancient Fora of Constantine and of Theodosius. It was also near the first Sultan's palace, the Old Palace (Turkish: Eski Sarayi), which was also in construction in those same years, and not far from the Artopoléia (Greek: Άρτοπωλεία) quarter, a location already occupied in Byzantine times by the bakers.