Moazzam Jahi Market: Standing Still
Named after Moazzam Jah Bahadur, son of the seventh and last Nizam of Hyderabad, The Moazzam Jahi Market is built entirely in stone.
Modelled after the ‘Universal Stores’ of the West, construction of this popular landmark began in 1933 by the City Improvement Board, whose President was Prince Moazzam Jah. Besides being a centrally located traders centre, it was supposed to have housed the fruit market that sent fruit to the Nizam living in the Falaknuma Palace then.
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On the completion of the market in 1935, a clock was installed on the Minar facing the main street crossing. Today, this Clock Tower is iconic in the Old City of Hyderabad.
The architecture of this triangular granite structure is striking in its antiquity. Which is what probably prompted Nikon to conduct a photowalk here, the first Sunday of February. It is also on the HMDA's Heritage Buildings List.
With remarkable archways, spiral staircases, colourful doors, flocks of pigeons and a flurry of activity from the 100+ shopkeepers setting up shop and scattering grain for the birds to feed on, the courtyard is the most integral part of this building.
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81 years and this market has stood still. Not much has changed but the generations of shopkeepers and the kids that stop to binge on the “famous” handmade fruit icecream.
