Green Bazar
The Green Bazar, known in Kazakh as Kök bazar, is a big public market in Almaty, Kazakhstan, located where Zenkov and Jibek Joly streets meet. It opened in 1875 and has long been an important trading place. Today you can find spices, prepared foods, produce, textiles, furniture, and antiques. The area began as a guest yard for traveling merchants.
In 1887 a major earthquake hit Almaty and damaged the market. It was rebuilt in 1927 and given the name Central Farm Market, but people still call it the Green Bazaar. Today it’s a popular tourist attraction.
The site started with Gostiny Dvor, built in 1875 by architect Jan Kozell-Poklevsky and funded by Sadyk Rafikov. Merchants from Central Asia and beyond visited. After the earthquake, the market area changed and new bazaars for different products appeared around the city. With the rise of collective farms in the 1920s, big trade in farm goods resumed. The rebuilt market in 1927 was called Central Collective Farm Market, though the public kept calling it Green Bazaar.
In the 1940s the bazaar had long rows of wooden stalls and sold live cattle, dairy, apples, and other local produce. During World War II, goods were sold for cash rather than by cards, though prices were high. The wooden market was replaced in 1975 by a brick, brutalist building designed by Mark Pavlov, with multiple levels: a main pavilion, a summer market, and a large car park.
A new shopping pavilion was built in 2017, covering about 20,000 square meters, with half for retail and a two-level, 10,000-square-meter area for parking up to 400 cars. The project cost about 2.5 billion tenge and created more than 500 jobs.
From February 2021, “Social shops” offer affordable staple foods. In September 2021, journalists and bloggers from many countries visited. The Green Bazaar has also appeared in books and TV shows, including The Amazing Race and a spy novel.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 07:53 (CET).