Ulus Hali

About Ulus Hali

Ulus Hali is the historic covered food market of old Ankara, a low, symmetrical modernist hall in the Ulus district where traders still sell fresh produce and goods from shops and central stalls. Its story begins with a fire. In 1929 a large blaze around the Tahtakale bazaar, just north of Suluhan, destroyed the bazaar, its bath and other buildings, and the area lost much of its role as a trading hub. As part of the rebuilding of the 1930s, the Austrian architect Robert Oerley, who also designed the city's Numune Hospital and the Refik Saydam Hygiene Institute, was asked to design a new market on the site. Completed in 1937, it became a place where people could once again shop cheaply in the heart of the city. The building is a fine example of early Republican modern architecture: cubic and symmetrical, with broad concrete eaves, long horizontal lines and wide glass shop fronts. Two main entrances, on Şehit Teğmen Kalmaz Caddesi and Alsancak Sokak, let the hall read almost as a continuation of the street, with shops and display stalls lined along a central axis. Ankara Metropolitan Municipality renovated the market in 2023, its first thorough repair since construction, in keeping with the original design: the roof and rainwater drainage were replaced, the central stalls renewed, granite paving laid and lighting, shop interiors and basements redone. It reopened on 20 December 2023. The hall sits among Ulus's other historic shopping streets, close to Suluhan and the Anafartalar bazaar, so it combines easily with a walk up towards Ankara Castle.