Ali Pasha Square

Ali Pasha Square

We are in one of the last areas achieved by filling the Inner Harbor. In his book dated 1817, Oikonomos mentions this filled area as Ali Pasha River. The place, also called Gemiler Pier in another source dated 1827, was called Ali Pasha Square with its current name. Over the years, the area where caravans unloaded, camels and horses rested, which we encountered in engravings of that period, shrunk by being filled with structures and took its present form.

Ali Pasha Square has been the focus of the Izmir market since the middle of the 19th century. Around the square, there were various inns such as the Hospital Han, which could not survive today, and the Hüseyin Bey Inn. Being the first defined square of İzmir, which was built according to a specific plan, gave it an important place in the Ottoman planning literature. The Hacı Salih Pasha Fountain, which is also the symbol of the square, is always a source of water for visitors.

The square and the inns around it served as a kind of stock exchange until the Izmir Commodity Exchange was established in 1891. However, the Commodity Exchange started to operate in its building on the dock, and the banks with foreign capital started to lose their economic efficiency with the positioning around the port. With this change, the space has only become a storage function. On the other hand, let's add to our words that the square was the place where the animal market, which was the only market in Izmir at certain periods, was established until the beginning of the 20th century.

This is also known as Taşçılar İçi because it is the area where the masters who made millstones for a period of time. Today, Ali Pasha Square is still lively with street musicians and regulars, where artisans from various sectors come together instead of a single professional group.