Turkish Hamam – A Dip Into The Golden Past
Whether you are visiting Istanbul for one day or for few days, your visit is simply considered incomplete without experiencing a visit to the traditional Turkish baths at Istanbul.
If you mistook a Turkish bath for a spa, then, you need to take a second thought. This is because a Turkish bath is much more than an hour of scrubbing, sweating and messaging at any spa. It is much more romanticized and exquisite experience not to be missed by anyone visiting Istanbul. Men and women, young and old, rich and poor, all were free to visit the traditional hamams. The tradition of Turkish baths (commonly known as ‘hamam’) has been passed on from the Byzantines to the Ottomans and is alive even in the modern Istanbul.
Among some of the most prominent Turkish baths is the Cemberlitas Hamam. Located in the heart of Istanbul, this hamam is just at a walking distance from the Grand Bazaar and the mosque. This hamam was built in 16th century by Mimar Sinan who also designed the Suleymaniye Mosque of Istanbul.
Like all hamams, this hamam too has different section for women. A plastic sign at the entrance of the hamam reminds women to walk bare feet and wrap a towel around their waist. Unlike other traditional baths in Istanbul, Cemberlitas Hamam is open till midnight. In hamams, men message men and women message women in the separate sections.
Another bath worth visiting in Istanbul is the Cagaloglu Bath located just near the Underground Cistern in Cagaloglu. In 1741, Sultan Mahmut ordered for construction of this hamam so as to generate revenue for his library and the famous monument of the time, Hagia Sofia. This hamam happens to be the last hamams built in the city before Sultan Mustafa III gave orders for banning construction of any hamams in 1768 to meet the city’s increasing demand for wood and water.
Cagaloglu Bath has a pool with dressing rooms and a waterjet in the middle of the pool. The bath has a marble platform surrounded by cubicles meant for bathing. This bath is open from 8 am till 10 pm for women while men can visit this bath between 8 am to 11 pm on all days of the week.
A visit to a hamam will not just relax your body but will give you an aesthetic pleasure which cannot be explained in words but only experienced. The masseuse will ask you to lie flat on your stomach and will cover you with foamy soap from head to toe. Then, she will gently scrub your back and then begin the same procedure on your front. The whole procedure will leave you calm and stress free.
The traditional institution of the Turkish baths sheds light on various aspects of the Turkish life and brings together different dimensions of the society’s culture.
Sultanahmet Square (The Hippodrome)
Sultanahmet Square (Sultanahmet Meydani) earlier known as the ‘Hippodrome of Constantinople’ was the social and the sports hub of Constantinople. Presently, only a few parts of the original structure survive. Another name for this place in the city of Istanbul is ‘Atmeydani’ which means Horse Square in Turkish.
Hippodrome Constantiople Sultanahmet Square Old Istanbul
Coming from the Greek word ‘hippos’ (horse) and ‘dromos (way), it means a place for horse racing which was a favorite pastime in the Roman, Hellenistic and Byzantine period. Apart from horse racing, chariot racing was another favorite pastime of the ancient people.
The place which is now under the shadow of Sultanahmet Mosque was a favorite venue for horse-racing in the Hippodrome during the Byzantine era. Originally built by Septimus Severus, the hippodrome was further expanded by Contantine the Great in 203. According to some historians, the hippodrome had the capacity for thirty thousand spectators, while some claim the sitting capacity to be sixty thousand.
Chariot races were the hot attraction of the hippodrome in the Byzantine and Roman period. Moreover, the place was not just a sports hub but also the central point for all entertainment, cultural and political meetings and events. A number of animal fights were held at this place. However, after the 10th century, the place lost its past glory especially in 1204 when the Latins invaded the city.
The Hippodrome was originally built in U shape while the imperial box was built as a balcony to accommodate the audiences. Atop the roof of the imperial box were four bronze horses. The hippodrome was divided into two parts by a low lying wall which exhibited important monuments brought from various corners of the empire. The place was a venue for races between wealthy chariot drivers till politics intervened with the game resulting in bloody clashes between the members of the races drivers. Hence, this resulted in a number of civil wars within the city including the bloody Nika riots in 532 when nearly 30,000 people lost their lives. Apart from loss of lives, a number of famous historical buildings also got devastated including the Hagia Sophia.
The present ground level is higher by 4 to 5 metres than the original ground level of the Hippodrome. The Sultanahmet Square has three monuments namely the Serpent Column, the Egyptian Obelisk and the Milyonbar (the Walled Obelisk). A number of ceremonies and coronations were held at this place in the Turkish period. Today, it is considered to be a favorite tourist attraction in the city and houses many restaurants and hotels.
At present, the vast Hippodrome is nowhere to be found as just the southern end of this great historical monument survives now. This has been decorated with vaults.
On the trail of the Sultans burial places…
For many months now, we have been eagerly waiting for the new Archaeological Park in Sultanahmet Square to open its gates.
Disappointingly, nothing has happened. However, in the meantime another gate has opened, and that is the back one into Aya Sofya (Hagia Sophia), the huge church-mosque that dominates the square. That gate leads through to a courtyard containing the tombs of several of the Ottoman sultans who were buried here after the church was converted into a mosque in 1453. What this means is that it's now possible to visit the tombs of virtually all the sultans, something that has not been an option since the advent of the Turkish Republic in 1923.
Keen Ottoman enthusiasts will know that Bursa preceded İstanbul as the capital of the empire, and it's there that any pursuit of the sultans' burial places will have to start. Osman and Orhan, the father and son who established the dynasty in the 13th and 14th centuries, were laid to rest in tombs high up on a hill in what is now the Tophane part of town near the remains of the citadel. The original tombs fell foul of an earthquake in 1855, but replacements were provided by Sultan Abdülaziz in 1868. Orhan's son Murad I, victor at the momentous Battle of Kosovo in 1389, was buried a little further out of the town center in the Murad I (Hüdavendigar) Camii. His son was the unlucky Sultan Beyazıd I who was captured by Timurlane after the Battle of Ankara in 1402. Thought to have been kept locked up in a cage, he may have killed himself in despair; his remains were buried in the Yıldırım Beyazıd Camii in the Emir Sultan part of town across the valley from the sultans who had founded his line.
Beyazıd's son Sultan Mehmed I was buried in the exquisite Yeşil (Green) Camii that has become an icon of Bursa. But perhaps the loveliest of all the early imperial tombs in Bursa belongs to Sultan Murad II, the father of Mehmed the Conqueror, who was laid to rest in the exquisite Muradiye complex, whose garden, dotted with the tombs of long-forgotten Ottoman princes, smells sweetly of box hedges.
Of course with the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the focus of the Ottoman Empire shifted dramatically. Although the sultans continued to hold a soft spot for Bursa and for Edirne, the second Ottoman capital, the hub of things was now the city on the Bosporus that they had seized from the Byzantine emperors. Not surprisingly, Fatih (“the Conqueror”) Sultan Mehmed II was buried with great fanfare when he died prematurely in 1481; 25,000 Janissaries are believed to have attended his funeral in the first courtyard of Topkapı Sarayı, and his tomb, on the grounds behind Fatih Camii, the mosque he had built over the site of the old Church of the Holy Apostles, was suitably large and imposing. Every year on May 29, prayers are said there at the start of the celebrations commemorating the conquest.
Fatih's successors emulated him in building huge mosque complexes that would serve as their burial places. His son Sultan Beyazıd II is buried in the grounds of Beyazıt Camii near İstanbul University and Kapalı Çarşı (the Grand Bazaar), while Selim I (“the Grim”) is buried beside the mosque named after himself on the hill above Fener, and Sultan Süleyman (“the Magnificent”) was laid to rest behind Mimar Sinan's great masterpiece, the Süleymaniye Mosque, just steps away from the separate tomb of his much-loved wife, Haseki Hürrem (better known to history as “Roxelana”).
After that things started to change, and Sultans Selim II, Murad III, Mehmed III and Mustafa I are buried in the grounds of Aya Sofya rather than in purpose-built complexes of their own; Selim, Murad and Mehmed's tombs are now open to the public, although we will need to wait a little longer to see Mustafa's, which is still under restoration. Mehmed III's son Sultan Ahmed I reverted to the extravagant habits of his ancestors and took responsibility for what must be İstanbul's most famous mosque, the six-minareted Sultanahmet Camii, better known to visitors as the Blue Mosque. He was buried at the edge of the complex in a domed tomb the size of a small mosque together with his two sons by different wives, Sultans Osman II and Murad IV.
Ahmed I was succeeded by his frail brother Sultan Mustafa I, who had endured 14 years as a prisoner in the kafes (cage) inside Topkapı Sarayı, a system initiated to rein in the ambitions of potential rivals to the throne. When he died of typhus after a second brief and unhappy reign as sultan following the assassination of Osman II, he was buried inside the old baptistery in the grounds of Aya Sofya. Beside him was laid to rest Sultan İbrahim, known as “the Mad.”
İbrahim's son Mehmed IV (“the Hunter”) succeeded to the throne when aged only 7, which meant that his mother, Hatice Turhan Sultan, became the power behind the throne. When he died, he was buried beside her in the large mausoleum now separated from Yeni Camii (New Mosque) of which it was apart by a road. Throughout the 17th century, this served as an important burial place for the sultans, although Süleyman II and Ahmed II were interred beside Süleyman the Magnificent in the grounds of the Süleymaniye Camii. Today the tombs of ultans Mustafa II, Ahmed III, Mahmud I and Osman III can all be found lined up beside that of Mehmed IV in a faded building that must surely be next in line for renovation.
Sultan Ahmed III's son Mustafa III employed the architect Mehmed Tahir Ağa to build one of the last great mosque complexes for him in Laleli, where he was buried with his son Sultan Selim III. Mustafa was initially succeeded by Sultan Abdülhamid I, for whom a tomb was built in Sirkeci just up the road from the one containing so many of his ancestors opposite Yeni Camii. This has just been beautifully restored and reopened to the public, which will find the grave of Sultan Mustafa IV there, too. The calligraphic tiles ringing the walls are especially beautiful, and the holy relics encased in the wall ensure a steady throughput of pilgrims.
When he died in 1839, Abdülhamid I's son, the reforming sultan Mahmud II, who finally broke the power of the Janissaries in 1826, was buried in a completely new tomb complex that juts out onto the pavement on Divan Yolu. There he was later joined by Sultans Abdülaziz and Abdülhamid II. With the Ottoman era drawing to its close, Sultan Abdülmecid I was interred in the Selim I Camii, and Sultan Murad V in the overcrowded mausoleum opposite the Yeni Camii. In a sharp break with convention, when Mehmed V (Reşad) died in 1918, he was buried far away from his predecessors in Eyüp on the Golden Horn. He was the last Ottoman sultan to be buried on Turkish soil.
In 1922, as the empire breathed its last, Mehmed VI (Vahdettin), the 36th and final sultan, was sent into exile, dying in Italy four years later; he was buried in the Tekkiye as-Sulaymaniyye Mosque in Damascus. With the coming of the republic, Abdülmecid Efendi, the son of Sultan Abdülaziz, was briefly granted the title of caliph, although not of sultan, in 1922, but in 1924 even this was taken away from him and he too was sent into exile. He died in Paris in 1944. Ten years later his body was re-interred in Medina in Saudi Arabia.
The Tomb of Suleyman the Magnificient
The Tomb of Fatih Sultan Mehmet