It is one of the nicest markets in Jerusalem, the market is about 13 dunums, it has four entrances, all of which reach a main square in the center of which is a fountain called the Marastan Fountain, it is large and beautiful, with human and animal statues in a Greek style and shape in its estates.
The entrance of the northern market is characterized by a bronze arch that has three large arches, in the pre-market era, it owned as a waqf for the Islamic Bimaristan,
It dates back to the period of Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi; the market includes one mosque -Mosque of Omar ibn al-Khattab – and four churches: the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Church of John the Baptist, the Lutheran Church of the Fadi, and the Church of Alexander Nevsky of Russia.
One of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchs leaked St. John’s Monastery in this market and sold it to a settlement association, which greatly increased the percentage of the settlers.
As for the tanning trade which is prevalent in the market, it disappeared because of the criminal procedures of the occupation, which didn’t allow any raw materials to the market, to have no competition between the Jerusalemites and the settlers.
After these procedures, seven shops were closed and most of the remaining shops turned to trading with tourist artifacts and spread in the market restaurants and cafes.
It is a property of the Orthodox Patriarchate.
Patriarch Athanasius purchased land in 1837 from Al Alami, and then a monk named Aftimos built the market