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= Hammam =
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Introduction
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A hammam (), also often called a Turkish bath by Westerners, is a type
of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic
world. It is a prominent feature in the culture of the Muslim world
and was inherited from the model of the Roman 'thermae.' Muslim
bathhouses or hammams were historically found across the Middle East,
North Africa, al-Andalus (Islamic Iberia, i.e. Spain and Portugal),
Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and in Southeastern Europe
(notably Balkans and Hungary) under Ottoman rule.
In Islamic cultures the significance of the hammam was both religious
and civic: it provided for the needs of ritual ablutions but also
provided for general hygiene in an era before private plumbing and
served other social functions such as offering a gendered meeting
place for men and for women. Archeological remains attest to the
existence of bathhouses in the Islamic world as early as the Umayyad
period (7th-8th centuries) and their importance has persisted up to
modern times. Their architecture evolved from the layout of Roman and
Greek bathhouses and featured a regular sequence of rooms: an
undressing room, a cold room, a warm room, and a hot room. Heat was
produced by furnaces which provided hot water and steam, while smoke
and hot air was channeled through conduits under the floor.
In a modern hammam visitors undress themselves, while retaining some
sort of modesty garment or loincloth, and proceed into progressively
hotter rooms, inducing perspiration. They are then usually washed by
male or female staff (matching the gender of the visitor) with the use
of soap and vigorous rubbing, before ending by washing themselves in
warm water. Unlike in Roman or Greek baths, bathers usually wash
themselves with running water instead of immersing themselves in
standing water since this is a requirement of Islam, though immersion
in a pool used to be customary in the hammams of some regions such as
Iran. While hammams everywhere generally operate in fairly similar
ways, there are some regional differences both in usage and
architecture.
Etymology
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The word "hammam" () is a noun meaning "bath", "bathroom",
"bathhouse", "swimming pool", etc. derived from the Arabic
triconsonantal root H-M-M (ح م م) which yields meanings related to
heat or heating. From Arabic , it passed on to Persian () and Turkish
().
In English, hammams are also called "Turkish baths" because in the
past, Western writers often called all Muslims "Turks" and because
they presented hammams largely as an Ottoman cultural feature. The
first recorded use of the term 'Turkish bath' in English was in 1644.
Origins and early development
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Following the expansion of Arab Muslim rule over much of the Middle
East and North Africa in the 7th and 8th centuries, the emerging
Islamic societies were quick to adapt the bathhouse to their own
needs. Its importance to Muslim society lay in the religious
requirement to perform ablutions ('wudu' and 'ghusl') before praying
and because of the general Islamic emphasis on physical and spiritual
purity, although the scholar Mohammed Hocine Benkheira has argued that
hammams were not in fact necessary for religious purposes in early
Islam and that this relationship was partly assumed by later
historians. He suggests that the hammam's initial appeal derived at
least in part from its convenience for other services (such as
shaving), from its endorsement by some Muslim doctors as a form of
therapy, and from the continued popular appreciation of its pleasures
in a region where they had already existed for centuries. He also
notes that there was initially strong opposition from many Islamic
scholars ('ulama'), especially Maliki scholars, to the use of hammams.
These scholars viewed hammams as unnecessary for full-body ablutions
('ghusl') and questioned whether public bathing spaces could be
sufficiently clean to achieve proper purification. They also worried
that spaces for collective bathing could become spaces for illicit
sexual activity. Nevertheless, this opposition progressively faded and
by the 9th century most scholars were no longer interested in debating
the validity of hammams, although it continued to be seen with
suspicion in some conservative circles.
The earliest known Islamic hammams were built in Syria and Jordan
during the Umayyad Caliphate (661-750) as part of palaces and desert
castles at Qusayr 'Amra, Hammam al-Sarah, Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi, and
Khirbat al-Majfar. Shortly after this period, archaeology reveals the
existence of Islamic bathhouses across much of the Muslim world, with
hammams appearing as far west as Volubilis (itself a former Roman
colony) in Morocco during the Idrisid period (late 8th to early 9th
centuries). Historical texts and archeological evidence also indicate
the existence of hammams in Cordoba and other cities of al-Andalus in
the 8th century. In Iran, which did not previously have a strong
culture of public bathing, historical texts mention the existence of
bathhouses in the 10th century as well as the use of hot springs for
therapeutic purposes; however, there has been relatively little
archeological investigation to document the early presence and
development of hammams in this region.
Muslims retained many of the main elements of the classical bathhouses
while leaving out functions which were less relevant to their
practices. For example, the progression from cold room to hot room was
maintained, but it was no longer common practice to take a plunge in
cold water after leaving the hot room, nor was exercise incorporated
into bathing culture as it was in classical gymnasiums. Likewise,
Muslim bathers usually washed themselves in running water rather than
immersing themselves in standing water. Although in early Islamic
history women did not normally patronise hammams, by around the 10th
century many places started to provide separate hours (or separate
facilities) for men and women. The hammam then took on an important
role in women's social life as one of the few public spaces where they
could gather and socialise apart from men. Some hammams were privately
owned or formed parts of palaces and mansions, but in many cases they
were civic or charitable institutions which formed part of larger
religious/civic complexes. Such complexes were governed by 'waqf'
agreements, and hammams often acted as a source of revenue for the
upkeep of other institutions such as mosques.
Later Islamic baths
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Later the Ottomans became prolific patrons of hammams. Since they were
social centres as well as baths, they were built in almost every city
across their European, Asian, and African territories. The Ottomans
were thus responsible for introducing hammams to much of eastern and
central Europe, where many still exist today in various states of
restoration or disrepair. Such Turkish baths are found as far as
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, and Hungary. Many early Ottoman
hammams survive in Bursa and Edirne, as well as in Eastern Europe and
Anatolia, but hammams became even more numerous and architecturally
ambitious in Constantinople (Istanbul), thanks to its royal patronage,
its large population and its access to plentiful water. The city's
Greek inhabitants had retained a strong Eastern Roman bath culture,
with the Baths of Zeuxippus constituting one early example. Ottoman
architects expanded on the experience of Byzantine architects to
create particularly well-balanced designs with greater symmetry and
regularity in the arrangement of space than could be seen in hammams
in other parts of the Muslim world. Some of the city's oldest
monumental hammams are the Tahtakale Hamam (probably built right after
1454), the Mahmut Pasha Hamam (built in 1466), and the Bayezid II
Hamam (built some time between 1500 and 1507). The monumental hammams
designed by the 16th-century Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan
(1489-1588), such as the Çemberlitaş Hamamı, the Süleymaniye Hamam (in
the complex of the Süleymaniye Mosque), and the Haseki Hürrem Sultan
Hamam, are major examples of hammams that were built later in the era
of classical Ottoman architecture. When Sultan Mustafa III issued a
decree halting the construction of new public baths in the city in
1768, it seems to have resulted in an increase in the number of
private hammams among the wealthy and the elites, especially in the
Bosphorus suburbs where they built luxurious summer homes.
In Iran, many examples of hammams survive from the Safavid period
(16th-18th centuries) onward, with the historic city of Isfahan in
particular containing many examples. The spread of Muslim rule in the
Indian subcontinent also introduced hammams to this region, with many
examples surviving in Mughal architecture (16th-19th centuries).
Contemporary era
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Hammams continued to be a vital part of urban life in the Muslim world
until the early 20th century when the spread of indoor plumbing in
private homes rendered public baths unnecessary for personal hygiene.
This has resulted in a decline in their use - although to varying
degrees depending on regional cultural practices. In many regions
hammams have been abandoned, demolished or converted to serve as
commercial buildings or cultural venues. Some have been converted into
museums or art galleries, as with the examples of the Bayezid II Hamam
in Istanbul, which now houses a hammam museum, and the Davud Pasha (or
Daut Pasha) Hamam in Skopje, North Macedonia.
In Turkey many historic hammams continue to operate either for locals
or for tourists; in some cases this has led to neglected historic
hammams such as the Kılıç Ali Pasa Hamamı and the Hürrem Sultan Hamamı
being renovated and returned to their original function, while others
were abandoned or repurposed. In Morocco, many hammams continue to
serve locals in historic cities such as Fes and Marrakesh, where they
are especially useful to the urban poor residing in the old cities
('medina's). In many other regions, however, hammams have become
obsolete and have either been abandoned or converted to other uses. In
Iran, some baths continue to operate in the historic districts of
cities like Isfahan where they continue to serve religious functions,
but there is an overall decline in their numbers. Many surviving
Iranian examples have been converted to other uses, most notably as
restaurants and teahouses. In Damascus, Syria, only thirteen hammams
were still operating in 2004, mostly in the old city; many others had
been either demolished or repurposed. Cairo in Egypt contained an
estimated 77 operational hammams at the beginning of the 19th century
but only eight were still in business by the start of the 21st
century, with many others abandoned or neglected. In the former
European territories of the Ottoman Empire such as Greece and the
Balkans, many hammams became defunct or were neglected in modern
times, although some have now been restored and turned into historic
monuments or cultural centres.
Public bathing in the Islamic context
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Prayer is one of the Five Pillars of Islam and it is customary to
perform ablutions before praying. The two Islamic forms of ablution
are 'ghusl', a full-body cleansing, and 'wudu', a cleansing of the
face, hands, and feet. Mosques always provide a place to wash, but
hammams are often located nearby for deeper cleansing. Many are
actually part of mosque complexes.
Hammams, particularly in Morocco, evolved from their Roman origins to
meet the needs of ritual purification according to Islam. For example,
in most Roman-style hammams, there was a cold pool for submersion of
the body, a style of bathing that finds less favour with Islam which
regards bathing under running water without being fully submerged more
appropriate.
Al-Ghazali, a prominent Muslim theologian of the 11th century, wrote
'Revival of the Religious Sciences', a multi-volume work discussing
the appropriate forms of conduct for many aspects of Muslim life and
death. One of the volumes, entitled 'The Mysteries of Purity', details
the proper technique for performing ablutions before prayer and the
major ablution ('ghusil') after anything which renders it necessary,
such as the emission of semen. For al-Ghazali, the hammam is a
primarily male institution, and he cautions that women should only
enter a hammam after childbirth or illness. However, even al-Ghazali
thought it admissible for men to prohibit their wives or sisters from
using the hammam. For al-Ghazali the main point of contention
surrounding hammams was nakedness, and he warned that overt nakedness
was to be avoided ("… he should shield it from the sight of others and
second, guard against the touch of others.") His writing focused
especially on the need to avoid touching the penis during bathing and
after urination, and wrote that nakedness was decent only when the
area between a man's knees and lower stomach was hidden. For women he
suggested that only exposure of the face and palms was appropriate.
According to al-Ghazali, nakedness in the hammam could incite indecent
thoughts and behaviours, hence its controversial nature.
In Islam ritual ablution is also required before or after sexual
intercourse. Knowing that, May Telmissany, a professor at the
University of Ottawa, argues that the image of a hyper-sexualised
woman leaving the hammam is an Orientalist way of looking at things
that sees leaving or attending the hammam as an indicator of sexual
behaviour.
Bathing practices and services
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Most hammams expect their clients to undress down to a modesty garment
or loincloth, before proceeding from a cold room to progressively
hotter rooms. Men are usually washed by male bath attendants and women
by female attendants before they are given a massage. Some details of
the process vary from region to region, such as the presence or
absence of pools where visitors can immerse themselves in water. In
more conservative areas women are less likely to bathe in just their
underwear while in areas where hammams have become the preserve mainly
of tourists there is more likelihood that women will bathe naked. Some
hammam complexes contain separate sections for men and women;
elsewhere men and women are admitted at different times in which case
the hours for women are usually far more limited than those for men.
Traditionally hammams, especially those for women, doubled as places
of entertainment with dancing and food being shared. It was common to
visit hammams before weddings or religious holidays, to celebrate
births, to swap beauty tips, etc. Women also used visits to the hammam
to size up potential wives for their sons.
Some accessories from Roman times survive in modern hammams, such as
the 'peştemal' (a special cloth of silk and/or cotton to cover the
body, like a pareo) and the 'kese' (a rough mitten used for
scrubbing). However, other accoutrements of the hammam experience such
as jewel boxes, gilded soap boxes, mirrors, metal henna bowls, perfume
bottles and 'nalın' (wooden or mother-of-pearl clogs that prevented
slipping on the wet floor) can now only be seen in museums.
Traditionally, the bathhouse masseurs (Turkish: 'tellak') were young
men who soaped and scrubbed their clients. However, the 'tellaks' were
replaced by adult attendants during the 20th century.
Massage
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A massage in a hammam is likely to involve not just vigorous muscle
kneading, but also joint cracking--"not so much a tender working of
the flesh as a pummelling, a cracking of joints, a twisting of limbs".
Hammams aiming for a tourist clientele are likely to also offer an
array of different types of massage similar to what might be offered
in a spa.
Social function: gendered social space
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Arab hammams are gendered spaces where being a woman or a man can make
someone included or excluded. Therefore, they represent a departure
from the public sphere in which one is physically exposed amongst
other women or men. This declaration of sexuality merely by being nude
makes hammams a site of gendered expression. One exception to this
gender segregation is the presence of young boys who often accompany
their mothers until they reach the age of five or six when they switch
to attending the male hammam with their fathers.
Women's hammams play a special role in society. Valerie Staats finds
that the women's hammams of Morocco serve as a social space where
traditional and modern women from urban and rural areas of the country
come together, regardless of their religiosity, to bathe and
socialise. The bathing regulations laid down by al-Ghazali and other
Islamic intellectuals are not usually upheld in the everyday
interactions of Moroccans in the hammam. Staats argues that hammams
are places where women can feel more at ease than in many other public
interactions. In addition, in his work 'Sexuality in Islam,'
Abdelwahab Bouhdiba cites the hammam as a place where homosexual
encounters in general can take place. He notes that some historians
found evidence of hammams as spaces for sexual expression among women,
which they believed was a result of the universality of nudity in
these spaces. Hammams have also been associated with male
homosexuality over the centuries and up to the present day.
General design
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The hammam combines the functionality and structural elements of the
Roman thermae with the Islamic tradition of steam bathing, ritual
cleansing and respect for water. Islamic bathhouses were often
constructed as a part of mosque complexes which acted as both
community centres and places of worship.
Although there were variations across different regions and periods,
the general plan and architectural principles of hammams were very
similar. They consisted of a sequence of rooms which bathers visited
in the same order: the changing room or undressing room (corresponding
to the Roman apodyterium), the cold room (like the Roman frigidarium),
the warm room (like the tepidarium), and the hot room (like the
caldarium). The nomenclature for these different rooms varied from
region to region. The changing room was known generally as
'al-mashlaḥ' or 'al-maslakh' in Arabic, or by local vernacular terms
like 'goulsa' in Fez (Morocco) and 'maḥras' in Tunisia, whereas it was
known as the 'camekân' in Turkish and the 'sarbineh' in Persian. The
cold room was known as the 'bayt al-barid' in al-Andalus, 'el-barrani'
in Fez, 'bayt awwal' in Cairo, and 'soğukluk' in Turkish. The warm
room or intermediate room was known as 'bayt al-wastani' in al-Andalus
and many other regions, as 'el-wasti' in Fez, as 'bīt əs-skhūn' in
Tunis, and as 'ılıklık' in Turkish. The hot room was called the 'bayt
al-sakhun' in al-Andalus, 'ad-dakhli' in Fez, 'harara' in Cairo,
'garmkhaneh' in Persian, and 'hararet' or 'sıcaklık' in Turkish.
The main chambers of the hammam were usually covered with vaulted or
domed ceilings, giving them a distinctive profile. The domes and
vaults of the steam rooms (especially the hot room) were usually
pierced with small holes or skylights which provided natural light
during the day while allowing excess steam to escape. The ceiling and
walls were clad with steam-proof materials such as varnished plaster
or (for the lower walls and floors) marble. The vestibule, or changing
room, was often one of the most highly decorated chambers, featuring a
central fountain surrounded by benches. In Ottoman baths, the main
changing room often offered multi-level wooden galleries giving access
to smaller changing rooms. Toilets or latrines were often included in
the complex.
Most historic hammams made use of some version or derivation of the
Roman hypocaust underfloor system for heating. A furnace or set of
furnaces were located in a service room behind the walls of the hot
room and set at a lower level than the steam rooms. The furnaces were
used to heat water (usually in a large cauldron above them) which was
then delivered to the steam rooms. At the same time, hot air and smoke
from the furnaces was channeled through pipes or conduits under the
floor of the steam rooms, thus heating the rooms, before rising
through the walls and out the chimneys. As hot water was constantly
needed, they were kept burning throughout the hours of operation.
Although wood was continuously needed for fuel, some hammams, such as
those in Morocco, Turkey and Damascus, also made use of recycled
organic materials from other industries such as wood shavings from
carpenters' workshops and olive pits from the olive presses.
Some hammams were "double" hammams, having separate facilities for
women and men. Several of Istanbul's larger hammams were like this,
including the Bayezid II Hamam and the Haseki Hürrem Sultan Hamam.
Unusually for Morocco, the Hammam as-Saffarin in Fes is another
example.
Maghreb and al-Andalus
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Regional variations in hammam architecture usually relate to the
relative proportions of each room or the absence of one type of room.
In the Maghreb, and especially in al-Andalus, the largest and most
important steam room was typically the warm room ('al-wastani'). The
Arab Baths of Jaén is one of the more extreme examples of this since
the warm room is as large as both the cold and hot rooms combined,
possibly because it was also used for body massages and other
services. The changing room was also fairly large and was typically
the only space to feature any significant architectural decoration.
File:Banos califales warm room DSCF6877.jpg|Reconstructed interior of
the Caliphal Baths in Cordoba, Spain (10th century)
File:Baños moros, Alcázar, Jerez de la Frontera, España, 2015-12-07,
DD 82-84 HDR.jpg|Vaulted ceiling of warm room in the hammam of the
Almohad-era Alcázar of Jerez de la Frontera in Spain (12th century)
File:Arab Baths in Ronda Spain (18535883696).jpg|alt=The Arab baths
(Baños Arabes) of Ronda, Spain, late 13th century|The warm room of the
Arab baths ('Baños Arabes') of Ronda, Spain, late 13th century
File:Sala tèbia dels banys de l'Almirall de València.JPG|Room at the
'Baños del Almirante', a historic Andalusi bathhouse in Valencia,
Spain ()
File:Chellah DSCF7253.jpg|Marinid-era hammam at Chellah, Morocco (14th
century)
File:Granada Albayzin Alhambra (121) (51210944632).jpg|Warm room of
the Nasrid-era Comares Baths at the Alhambra in Granada, Spain (14th
century)
Ottoman baths
===============
In Ottoman baths the cold room is often either omitted completely or
combined with the changing room (known as the 'camekân' or
'soyunmalık'). This room is often the largest domed chamber in the
complex, with the dome supported on squinches, "Turkish triangles", or
decorative 'muqarnas'. It usually features a central fountain
('şadırvan') and is ringed with wooden galleries and is used as a
place to relax, drink tea, coffee, or sherbet, and socialise before
and after bathing. In contrast with hammams in al-Andalus or the
Maghreb, the warm room ('ılıklık') was de-emphasised architecturally
and was sometimes little more than a transition space between the cold
and hot rooms.
The hot room ('hararet' or 'sıcaklık') was usually the focus of the
richest architectural embellishments. Its layout typically consisted
of a central domed space flanked by up to four iwans to form a
cruciform layout. The corners between these iwans are often occupied
by smaller domed chambers, or 'halvet's, which were used for private
bathing. The center was usually occupied by a large heated marble
table ('göbektaşı' or navel stone) for customers to lie on.
File:Mahmut Pasha Hamam DSCF1329.jpg|Interior of the Mahmut Pasha
Hamam (now used for shops) in Istanbul, Turkey (1476)
File:Mustafa Pasha Hamam DSCF9319.jpg|Küçük Mustafa Paşa Hamam in
Istanbul (
File:Daut Pasha Amam, detail 3.jpg|'Muqarnas' decoration around the
domes of the Ottoman-era Davud Pasha Hamam in Skopje, North Macedonia
(late 15th century)
File:Hurrem Sultan Hamam Interior .png|Renovated interior of the
Haseki Hurrem Sultan Bathhouse in Istanbul (16th century)
File:Hunkar ve Valide Hamamlari Harem Topkapi 2007.JPG|Baths of the
Sultan and the Queen Mother at the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul (late
16th century)
Iran
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In Iran a shared pool or basin of hot water is commonly present in the
middle of the hot room where bathers could immerse themselves, a
feature which was rare or absent in the hamams of other regions
(except Egypt). Iranian hammam architecture was also characterised by
the polyhedral shape of its rooms (sometimes rectangular but often
octagonal or hexagonal), which were covered by a dome with a central
skylight. The Iranian hot room ('garmkhaneh') was in some cases
divided into several rooms: a large main one with a central pool
('chal howz') and smaller ones for individual ablutions or which could
be used as private rooms for special guests.
File:Roof of Sultan Amir Ahmand's Bath.jpg|Rooftop view of the domes
of the Sultan Amir Ahmed Hamam in Kashan, Iran (16th century)
File:Mehdi Qoli Beyk Hammam 2015-06-29.jpg|Frescoed/painted decoration
in a hammam from the reign of Shah Abbas I in Mashhad, Iran (16th or
17th century)
File:حمام گنجعلی خان محوطه داخلی.jpg|Hammam of the Ganjali Khan
Complex in Kerman, Iran (late 16th to early 17th century)
File:Baños de Vakil, Shiraz, Irán, 2016-09-24, DD 36-38 HDR
(32585522971).jpg|The changing room or vestibule of the Vakil Hammam
in Shiraz, Iran (18th century)
Jordan
========
Jordan contains several hammams from the Umayyad era (7th to 8th
centuries), making them the oldest known examples of Islamic
bathhouses. Many of these are attached to the so-called "desert
castles", including Qusayr 'Amra, Hammam al-Sarah, and Qasr al-Hayr
al-Sharqi. Qusayr 'Amra is particularly notable for the frescoes in
late Roman style that decorate the chambers, presenting a highly
important example of Islamic art in its early historical stages.
Al-Andalus (Spain and Portugal)
=================================
Although the traditions of the hammams eventually disappeared in the
centuries after the end of Muslim rule on the Iberian Peninsula in
1492, many historic hammam structures have nonetheless been preserved
to varying degrees across many cities, especially in Spain. Many of
them are now archeological sites or open to tourists as historical
attractions. These hammams are partly distinguished from others by
their larger and more monumental warm rooms ('bayt al-wastani') and
changing rooms ('bayt al-maslaj'), a feature also shared with some
Moroccan hammams.
An early example (partially destroyed now) were the 10th-century
Caliphal Baths which were attached to the Umayyad royal palace of
Cordoba (later turned into the Christian Alcazar) and later expanded
by the Almohads (12th to early 13th centuries). Other notable examples
of preserved Andalusian baths include the Bañuelo of Granada, the Arab
Baths of Ronda, the Arab Baths of Jaén, and the baths in the Alcazar
of Jerez de la Frontera. The Alhambra of Granada also contains two
preserved bathhouses: a small one near its main mosque, and a much
more lavish one attached to the Comares Palace. In 2020 a
well-preserved 12th-century Almohad-period bathhouse, complete with
painted geometric decoration, was discovered during renovations of a
local tapas bar in Seville, near the Giralda tower.
Morocco
=========
The ruins of the oldest known Islamic hammam in Morocco, dating back
to the late 8th century, can be found in Volubilis. Many historic
hammams have been preserved in cities such as Marrakesh and especially
Fes, partly because they continue to be used by locals. Among the best
known examples is the 14th-century Saffarin Hammam in Fes, which has
been restored and rehabilitated. Moroccan hammams were typically
smaller than Roman or Byzantine baths. They are often close to mosques
to facilitate the performance of ablutions. Because of their private
nature, their entrances are often discreet and their façades are
typically windowless. Vestiges of the Roman bathing style can be seen
in the three-room layout, which was widespread during the
Roman/Byzantine period.
It is sometimes difficult to identify hammams from the outside but the
roof has a series of characteristic domes that indicate the different
chambers. They often occupy irregularly shaped plots to fit into the
dense urban fabric. They are significant sites of culture and
socialisation as they are integrated into city life in proximity to
mosques, madrasas (schools) and souqs (markets). Magda Sibley, an
expert on Islamic public baths, wrote that many specialists in Islamic
architecture and urbanism found the hammams to be second in importance
only to the mosques as the most significant buildings in Islamic
medinas (historic cities).
Algeria
=========
The architecture of historic hammams in Algeria can be divided roughly
two types: those with linear floor plans, influenced by Andalusi
architecture (mostly up to the 15th century), and those with a
centralized floor plan, influenced by Ottoman architecture (mostly
from the 16th century onward). The oldest known Islamic baths in
Algeria are those uncovered by archeologists, including one in Tahert
from the Rustamid period (8th-9th centuries), one near the mosque of
Agadir (part of present-day Tlemcen), and one at the 10th-century
Zirid palace of 'Ashir. A more significant example has also been found
in the Qasr al-Bahr palace at Qal'at Bani Hammad, the Hammadid
capital, likely dating from the 11th to mid-12th century.
Several medieval hammams also survive in and around Tlemcen today,
including the Hammam al-Sabbaghin (late 11th or 12th century), the
Hammam al-Bali in nearby Nedroma (12th century), and the Hammam Sidi
Bu Madyan which, along with the baths of the ruined Dar al-Sultan
nearby, belonged to the 14th century complex of Sidi Bu Madyan. The
first two examples have a floor plan arranged around two orthogonal
axes and a large central warm room occupying the center, while those
of the Sidi Bu Madyan complex are of the linear type planned around
one main axis.
In Algiers, a large number of hammams were built during the Ottoman
regency period (16th to early 19th centuries). A study by Nabila
Chérif, published in 2009, identified nine hammam buildings that are
still preserved or partly preserved in the city. The best-preserved
ones are Hammam Sidi Ramdan (pre-Ottoman, possibly from the 10th or
11th centuries), Hammam Basha Sidna (circa 1550), Hammam Sirkadji
(mid-17th century), Hammam al-Fitwa (mid-17th century), and Hammam
Sidi 'Abd Allah (late 18th century). Apart from the older Hammam Sidi
Ramdan, most of these are organized into two main sections: the cold
section, which included the changing room and provided a place to rest
after bathing, and the warm section, which included the heated warm
and hot rooms. The hot room is generally much larger than the warm
room and is centrally-planned, consisting of a square room covered by
a dome, with a platform for massages in the center and various private
alcoves around the edges.
Syria
=======
A legend claims that Damascus once had 365 hammams, one for each day
of the year. For centuries, these hammams formed an integral part of
community life and some 50 of those in Damascus survived until the
1950s. However, by 2012, as a result of modernisation and the
installation of home bathrooms, fewer than twenty Damascene hammams
were still working.
According to many historians, Aleppo was home to 177 medieval hammams
before the Mongol invasion when many of the city's vital structures
were destroyed. Until 1970, around forty hammams were still operating.
In 2010, before the start of the Syrian War, roughly eighteen hammams
still operated in the ancient part of the city. Notable examples
included:
*Hammam al-Sultan, built in 1211 by Az-Zahir Ghazi
*Hammam al-Nahhasin, built during the 12th century near Khan
al-Nahhaseen
*Hammam al-Bayadah, built in 1450 during the Mamluk era
*Hammam Yalbugha built in 1491 by the Emir of Aleppo Saif ad-Din
Yalbugha al-Naseri
*Hammam al-Jawhary, Gammam Azdemir, Hammam Bahram Pasha, Hammam Bab
al-Ahmar and others
File:Aleppo Citadel 16 - Hammam.jpg|Remains of the hammam at the
Citadel of Aleppo, Syria ()
File:Hammam Yalbougha al-Nasri, Aleppo.jpg|Hammam Yalbugha in Aleppo,
Syria (1491)
File:Hammam Al-Nahhasseen Aleppo.jpg|Hammam al-Nahhasin in Aleppo,
Syria, originally built in the 12th century
Egypt
=======
As in neighbouring regions, bathhouses had existed in Egypt for
centuries before the arrival of the Arab Muslims in Egypt in the 7th
century. Greek bathhouses were present in Alexandria, a capital of
Hellenistic culture, as well as in other cities like Karanis in the
Faiyum. During the subsequent Islamic period, bathhouses continued to
be built by Muslim rulers and patrons, sometimes as part of larger
religious and civic complexes. Although not many have survived intact
to the present day, numerous public baths were built by the Fatimids
(10th-12th centuries), the Ayyubids (12th-13th centuries), the Mamluks
(13th-16th centuries), and the Ottomans (16th-19th centuries). One
well-preserved medieval example is the restored Hammam of Sultan Inal,
dating from 1456 and located at Bayn al-Qasrayn in Cairo. Private
hammams were also built as part of palaces, with surviving examples at
the Palace of Amir Taz (14th century) and the Harim Palace (19th
century), and of local aristocratic mansions such as Bayt al-Razzaz
(15th-18th centuries) and Bayt al-Suhaymi (17th-18th centuries). In
many Egyptian hammams a pool of hot water is present in the hot room
and used for immersion and bathing, a feature shared with the hammams
of Iran.
Today, the cultural practice of visiting hammams has significantly
receded in Egypt. Cairo contained an estimated 77 operational hammams
at the beginning of the 19th century, but only 33 were operating in
1969 and only eight were still operating at the start of the 21st
century, with many others abandoned or neglected. Of the few still
functioning hammams, many are also in precarious condition and
scholars have indicated that they are likely to disappear or stop
functioning in the near future. A few hammams, mainly in the
neighbourhoods of Historic Cairo, have been restored or earmarked for
restoration as historic monuments, including the Sultan Inal Hammam,
the monumental but ruined hammam of Sultan al-Mu'ayyad (behind the
al-Mu'ayyad Mosque), the Hammam al-Gamaliyya (in the Gamaliya
neighbourhood), the Hammam al-Sinaniya (in Bulaq), and the Hammam
al-Sukariya (in Darb al-Ahmar).
Turkey
========
After the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, Istanbul became a centre
of Ottoman architectural patronage. The city's oldest hammams include
the Tahtakale Hamam (built soon after 1453), the Mahmut Pasha Hamam
(built in 1466 and part of the Mahmut Pasha Mosque complex), the Gedik
Ahmet Pasha Hamam (built in 1475), the Bayezid II Hamam (built some
time between 1500 and 1507), and the Küçük Mustafa Pasha Hamam (built
before 1512 near the Gül Mosque).
Several major hammams in the city were designed by the famous Ottoman
architect Mimar Sinan in the 16th century. These include the Çinili
Hamam (built in 1545 in the Zeyrek neighbourhood), the Süleymaniye
Hammam (part of the Süleymaniye Mosque complex built in 1550-1557),
the Mihrimah Sultan Hamam (part of the Mihrimah Sultan Mosque complex
built in 1562-1565), the Kılıç Ali Pasha Hamam (part of the Kılıç Ali
Pasha Complex completed in 1580), as well as a lesser-known but
architecturally interesting hammam in Ortaköy. The Çemberlitaş Hamam
(on Divanyolu Street in the Çemberlitaş neighbourhood), completed in
1584 or earlier, is also attributed to Mimar Sinan. The largest hammam
designed by Sinan is the Haseki Hürrem Sultan Hamam which was
commissioned by Süleyman I's consort, Hürrem Sultan, and completed in
1556 on the site of the historical Baths of Zeuxippus for the
religious community of the nearby Hagia Sophia. Outside Istanbul,
Sinan also designed the Sokullu Mehmet Pasha Hamam in Edirne around
1568-1569. Among the hammams built after the 16th century one of the
most famous is the Cağaloğlu Hamam, finished in 1741 and one of the
last major hammams to be built in Istanbul.
Turkey also has a number of hot springs which have been developed as
public baths for centuries. The Eski Kaplıca ("Old Thermal Baths") of
Bursa, built by Sultan Murad I (ruled 1360-1389), and the nearby Yeni
("New") Kaplıca built by Rüstem Pasha in 1552, are two of the most
notable examples and are still used today. Several older hot-spring
baths were also built by the Seljuks in the 13th century and the
Akkoyunlu in the late 14th century, some of which are still operating
today.
Although far fewer in number than in the past, many Turkish hammams
still operate today. With the growth in tourism, some have been
restored or modernised recently with differing degrees of historical
authenticity. Other hammam buildings have ceased functioning as public
baths but have been repurposed as markets or cultural venues, as for
example the Tahtakale Hamam in Istanbul which contains shops and
cafes, the Hoca Paşa Hamam in Istanbul which is used for performances
by whirling dervishes, the Küçük Mustafa Paşa Hamamı in Istanbul which
is used for art exhibitions, and the Orhan Bey Hamam in Bursa which is
part of the Covered Bazaar. In some cases hamam buildings have been
turned into storage depots or factories, though this has usually led
to neglect and damage to their historic fabric.
South Asia
============
Public baths have ancient precedents in Indian civilisation. The Great
Bath located in present-day Pakistan is a notable example dating from
the 3rd millennium BC at the archeological site of Mohenjo-daro in the
Indus Valley. Islamic hammams were introduced after the spread of
Muslim rule in the subcontinent starting mainly with the Delhi
Sultanate in the 13th century and continuing through the later Mughal
period (16th-19th centuries). Historically, however, public bathhouses
in the Indian subcontinent were less common and less important than in
other Muslim territories such as the Middle East and North Africa.
This was due to the fact that, unlike most cities in those regions,
water was readily available across much of India, making hammams less
essential for bathing and performing full ablutions. While there were
many elaborate hammams in private palaces and mansions, few Indian
hammams were as important as those of Muslim cities further west.
Delhi, Hyderabad and Bhopal in India still have multiple working
Turkish baths, which date back to the Mughal period in the early 16th
century. Two prominent examples are the Hammam-e-Qadimi and
Hammam-e-Lal Qila.
In Pakistan, Shahi Hammam or the Royal Bathhouse of Lahore, located in
the historic Walled City, is one of the best preserved examples of a
Mughal-era hammam. It was built in 1634 by the Mughal governor of
Lahore, Hakim Ilmuddin Ansari, during the reign of Emperor Shah Jahan.
File:Hammam, Mandu 04.jpg|Dome of a hammam in Mandu, India
File:Salle du hammam du palais Shahi Qila (Burhanpur, Inde)
(16864981308).jpg|The hammam of the Shahi Qila Palace in Burhanpur,
India (17th century)
File:Central dome and fresco painting of Wazir Khan Hammam.jpg|The
17th-century Shahi Hammam in Lahore, Pakistan, is elaborately
decorated with Mughal-era frescoes.
File:Jaunpur Fort 12.jpg|Hammam inside Shahi Qila, Jaunpur
Greece
========
Greece once had many historic hammams dating from the Ottoman period,
from the late 14th century to the 18th century. Two of the oldest
remaining examples are the Gazi Evrenos Hamam in Giannitsa, dating
from 1392, and the Oruç Pasha Hammam in Didymoteicho, dating from
1398. Most have been abandoned, demolished or survive in a state of
decay, but recently a growing number have been restored and converted
to serve new cultural functions as historic sites or exhibitions
spaces. A 2004 study by Elena Kanetaki counted 60 remaining hammam
buildings on Greek territory.Domes of the 16th-century Yeni Hamam on
the skyline of [[Rhodes]]In Thessaloniki, formerly a major Ottoman
city, the Bey Hamam was built in 1444 by Sultan Murad II. It is a
double bath, for men and women, with notable architectural decoration.
The baths remained in use, called the Baths of Paradise, until 1968.
They were restored by the Greek Archaeological Service and are now
used as a cultural venue. The late 16th-century Yeni Hamam has also
been partially restored and now serves as a music venue. The Pasha
Hamam, also known as the Phoenix Baths, was built circa 1520 or 1529
during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent and operated until 1981.
It now houses archeological finds from construction work for the
Thessaloniki metro.
Elsewhere in Greece, the Abid Efendi Hamam, built between 1430 and
1669 near the Roman Forum in Athens, restored in the 1990s and
converted to the Center of Documentation in Body Embellishment. In
Rhodes, a double bath called the Yeni Hamam dates from the 16th
century and was restored in 1992-1995. It is now one of only two
Turkish baths still operating as a bathhouse in Greece.
Cyprus
========
On the Turkish side of the Cypriot border in Lefkoşa, the Büyük Hamamı
dates from the same period and is still in operation for men and
women.
North Macedonia
=================
Some significant historic Ottoman hammams have also been preserved in
North Macedonia. Two of the major examples in Skopje are now part of
the National Gallery of Macedonia: the Daut Pasha Hamam (built in the
late 15th century) and the Čifte Hammam (mid-15th century).
Bulgaria
==========
The city of Plovdiv, which was the most important city in the area
during Ottoman rule, had eight baths in the mid-17th century when
Evliya Çelebi visited. Of these, only two have survived . The
best-preserved is the large
[
https://plovdivbg.info/objects/chifte-banya-old-time-baths-a-contemporary-art-center/?lang=en
Chifte Banya] or Çifte Hamam (also known as the Ancient Bath), which
now serves as an art gallery. It was built in the 1460s, probably by
Isfandiyaroğlu Ismail Bey, the deposed ruler of the Isfendiyarid
Beylik in Anatolia. It is one of the largest preserved Ottoman hammams
in the Balkans and its decoration includes some muqarnas.
Hungary
=========
Király Baths building on Ganz Street, [[Budapest]]Budapest, the 'City
of Spas', has four Turkish baths, all from the 16th century: Rudas
Baths, Király Baths, Rácz Thermal Bath, and Veli bej (Császár) Bath
(reopened to the public in December 2012). Currently only Rudas and
Veli bej are open to the public, Rácz was closed in 2003 while Király
was closed in 2020 for renovations. Eger also has a working hammam,
simply called Török Fürdő (Turkish Bath), from the early 17th century.
Crimea (Ukraine)
==================
In Bakhchisarai, by order of the Crimean Khan Sahib I Geray, the
Sarı-Güzel hamam was built in 1532.
Hammams in Western Europe
======================================================================
Aside from Al-Andalus (the mainly Spanish and Portuguese parts of
Europe which were Muslim ruled until 1492) modern Western Europe has
no legacy of historic hammams. Nevertheless, derivatively named
Hummums existed in London's Covent Garden in the first half of the
18th century. Sweating and bathing facilities were located there for
some part of that period and, at other times, coffee houses, hotels,
and houses of ill repute (bagnios) merged with, or replaced them,
until a major fire destroyed them in 1768. But there have been no
historic hammam structures in London which could have been considered
part of the Islamic hammam tradition.
The British Isles in the 19th century
=======================================
This first experimental beehive-shaped bath was unsuccessful, mainly
because it had not been possible to heat the air to the required high
temperature. This is the only documented 19th century attempt to build
a hammam in Western Europe, after which the attempt was abandoned.
Instead, Dr Barter sent his architect, also named Richard Barter but
unrelated to him, to Rome to study how the ancient 'thermae' were
constructed there. On his return he designed and supervised the
building of what has become known as the first Victorian Turkish
bath--a hot-air bath using hot 'dry' air instead of the moist air of
the hammam.
Back in England the following year (1857), Urquhart helped build the
first such bath in Manchester. As a Turcophile, he argued strongly for
calling the new bath a Turkish bath, though others unsuccessfully
maintained that it should be called an Anglo-Roman bath, or as in
Germany and elsewhere, the Irish, or Irish-Roman bath.
But all future 19th century hot-air baths in the British Isles were
either based on the Irish-Roman model or later, and then only
occasionally towards the end of the century, on the Russian steam
bath. After Barter's initial attempt, the hammam is not recorded as
appearing again in Western Europe until after World War I.
France, post World War I
==========================
The building commemorates the many thousand Muslims who died fighting
for France during World War I. It was built by architects Robert
Fournez, Maurice Mantout, and Charles Heubès, following the plans of
Maurice Tranchant de Lunel, General Inspector of Fine Arts in Morocco.
Constructed in reinforced concrete, the decorative green tiles,
earthenware, mosaics, and wrought iron work come from Maghreb
countries, and were fitted by craft workers from there. In 1983, the
building was inscribed in the Base Mérimée, the database of French
monumental and architectural heritage, created and maintained by the
French Ministry of Culture.
The hammam was originally open at separate times for men and women. It
can be seen as it was in the mid-1960s, because it appears in a scene
in Gérard Oury's French-British comedy film 'La Grande Vadrouille'.
Bathers are shown being served drinks while reclining on long
continuous cushioned platforms which are divided into cubicles by bead
curtains. The cool wading pool in one of the hot rooms also appears.
Some time after a major refurbishment in the 2010s, the hammam's
admission policy changed. It appears that the mosque authorities now
lease it to a private company which runs it, for women only, as a
wellness centre with beauty treatments.
Europe, post World War II
===========================
It was not long before baths based on the internal appearance of the
hammam, with its central area and 'göbek tasi' (belly-stone), started
appearing in European hotels, health spas, and even as standalone
hammam establishments. In Spain, for example, after nearly five
centuries' absence, hammams are reappearing in cities such as Cordoba,
Granada, Seville, and Madrid. Drawing on centuries of mixed
traditions, their signs in Spanish and English, they are promoting a
new view of the hammam to a younger generation of bathers, thereby
attracting both tourists and locals, a trend currently developing
around the continent.
Art
=====
Within the Muslim world, hammams appeared in some artistic depictions
such as Persian miniatures, including the work of Kamāl ud-Dīn Behzād
(or Bihzad).
File:Bihhzad 001.jpg|Bathhouse scene by Kamāl ud-Dīn Behzād, 1495
File:Enderuni2.jpg|Women's bath, illustration from Husein Fâzıl-i
Enderuni's 'Zanan-Name', 18th century
In Western art, especially in the context of 19th-century Orientalism,
the hammam is often portrayed as a place of sexual looseness,
disinhibition and mystery. These Orientalist ideas paint the Arab or
Turkish "other" as mystical and sensuous, lacking morality in
comparison to their Western counterparts. A famous painting by Jean
Auguste Dominique Ingres, 'Le Bain Turc' ("The Turkish Bath"), depicts
these spaces as magical and sexual. There are several women touching
themselves or one another sensually, while some dance to music played
by the woman in the centre of the painting. More recently, Sylvia
Sleigh, has painted a gender-reversal take on Ingres's painting. Her
version also counters Ingres's orientalist fantasy brothel figures by
using her husband and some of her friends as real life models in more
realistic surroundings.
File:Jean-Léon Gérôme - Moorish bath.jpg|'Moorish Bath', by Jean-Léon
Gérôme, 1870
File:Gerome baigneuses.jpg|'Baigneuses', by Jean-Léon Gérôme, 'circa'
1889
File:Jean-Léon Gérôme - After the Bath.jpg|'Après le bain', by
Jean-Léon Gérôme
File:Le Bain Turc, by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, from C2RMF
retouched.jpg|Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres: 'The Turkish Bath', 1862
(Louvre, Paris)
File:Sylvia_Sleigh-The_Turkish_Bath-1973.jpg|Sylvia Sleigh: 'The
Turkish bath', 1972 (Smart Museum, University of Chicago)
Movies
========
Turkish director Ferzan Özpetek's 1997 film 'Hamam' told the story of
a man who inherited a hammam in Istanbul from his aunt, restored it
and found a new life for himself in the process.
In Zélie Elkihel's 5 minute animation, 'Hammam', a French-Moroccan
woman shares a memory of her first enlightening visit to a hammam when
she was 12.
Literature
============
Visiting a hammam was very much a part of the Western tourist
experience from the 18th century onwards and many travellers left
accounts of what they had seen in the bathhouses. One such was the
British diplomat's wife, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who visited a
hammam in Sofia in Bulgaria in 1717 and wrote about it in her 'Turkish
Embassy Letters', first published in 1763. In 1836 another British
woman, the traveller and novelist, Julia Pardoe, left a description of
taking part in the hammam ritual in Constantinople/Istanbul in her
book 'The City of the Sultan and Domestic Manners of the' 'Turks',
published in 1838. In 1814 another wife of a British ambassador to the
Ottoman Empire, Henrietta Liston, visited a hammam in Bursa and wrote
about it in her belatedly published diary. In her 'Romance of the
Bosphorus', Dorina Clifton, a British woman who grew up in
Constantinople/Istanbul, left a rare account of a visit to a local
hammam in Kandilli, one of the Bosphorus villages, before the First
World War. Several more contemporary accounts of using hammams in
Turkey appeared in 'Tales from the Expat Harem', published in 2005.
See also
======================================================================
*Gellért Baths
*Hydrotherapy
*Jjimjilbang, the Korean equivalent
*Moorish Baths, Gibraltar
*Onsen and sentō, the Japanese equivalents
*Steam shower
*Sauna
External links
======================================================================
*Michael Palin [
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij8YuHIpOjw at Turkish
baths in Istanbul - BBC] (From Pole to Pole) uploaded by BBC Worldwide
to YouTube
License
=========
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License URL:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammam
