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The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with 61 covered streets and over 4,000 shops attracting between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily. It is often regarded as one of the first shopping malls of the world.
The Grand Bazaar's construction began in 1455/56 under Sultan Mehmed II to boost Istanbul’s economy. The Cevâhir Bedesten housed textile and jewelry trade, later joined by the Sandal Bedesten in 1545 for textiles. By the 17th century, it had become a major Mediterranean trade hub with 3,000 shops, 67 streets, and 18 gates.
Fires, earthquakes, and economic shifts led to its decline in the 19th century. The 1894 earthquake reduced its size, and the Sandal Bedesten became an auction house in 1914. Restorations in 1959 and 1980 preserved the Bazaar as a historic marketplace.
References:The Pilgrimage Church of Wies (Wieskirche) is an oval rococo church, designed in the late 1740s by Dominikus Zimmermann. It is located in the foothills of the Alps in the municipality of Steingaden.
The sanctuary of Wies is a pilgrimage church extraordinarily well-preserved in the beautiful setting of an Alpine valley, and is a perfect masterpiece of Rococo art and creative genius, as well as an exceptional testimony to a civilization that has disappeared.
The hamlet of Wies, in 1738, is said to have been the setting of a miracle in which tears were seen on a simple wooden figure of Christ mounted on a column that was no longer venerated by the Premonstratensian monks of the Abbey. A wooden chapel constructed in the fields housed the miraculous statue for some time. However, pilgrims from Germany, Austria, Bohemia, and even Italy became so numerous that the Abbot of the Premonstratensians of Steingaden decided to construct a splendid sanctuary.