1 · POSITION
The timcheh is the covered trading hall of the Persian bazaar — a vaulted court within the market where merchants dealt, stored and negotiated under one roof. The register holds it as the urban counterpart of the caravanserai, and as a type it had not held before. [1, 2]
2 · THE TIMCHEH OF KASHAN
The Timcheh-ye Amin od-Dowleh in the great bazaar of Kashan, of the nineteenth century, is one of several in that bazaar. Its architect is recorded as Ustad Ali Maryam; its vault of muqarnas and karbandi in brick and tile is among the finest of its kind. Its chambers were traditionally used for trading rugs, woven in the city or brought in. [1, 2]
3 · A HALL FOR MORE THAN TRADE
Built for commerce, the Kashan timcheh is now also used for the city’s great religious ceremonies, above all in Muharram — a covered public room that the bazaar lends to the town. [1]
4 · IN TABRIZ
The Tabriz bazaar, inscribed by UNESCO in 2010, holds more than twenty timchehs beside its caravanserais, mosques and baths — the clearest case of trading hall and lodging kept in one fabric, which the register holds under its own code. [3]
5 · ⚑ CANDOUR
⚑ Checked on 22 October 2026. The timcheh itself held merchants’ rooms round a vaulted hall; lodging was not found in it. It opens at one end into a caravanserai or a loading court, and the urban caravanserais by the bazaars served as lodging houses, depots and offices. The note now puts the lodging there. The Kashan timcheh is dated only to the nineteenth century. [1–5]
Sources & Further Reading
Sources checked 22 October 2026.