Hamams (Turkish Traditional Baths) of Istanbul
Cemberlitas Hamami in Sultanahmet Istanbul Turkey
Turkey’s Istanbul is home to several old bath houses that were a glorious and prominent feature of the city until they were dominated by the modern bathrooms sending the former into decline. However, there is no denying the fact that these traditional Turkish baths still continue to hold great significance for the tourists from the world over. Moreover, with the growth of several existing and upcoming spas, the traditional historic baths of Turkey are set in for a revival.
After passing through a period of neglect spanning decades, the finest hamams (or Turkish traditional baths) are being bought and restored by developers who are spending millions towards these baths.
Aydin Bulut, a manager of a famous hamam in Istanbul, Suleymaniye hamam, quoted about the bright future of the traditional hamams in Istanbul, saying, “There is a good future for hamams. People have realized they are a strong business and there is a lot of interest in buying or managing them.”
Suleymaniye hamam was built by Mimar Sinan in 1557. Sinan was the architect who built several other celebrated monuments of ancient Constantinople (now Istanbul).
Many of the famous traditional hamams are on sale at extremely high prices. Consider, for instance, the Cagaloglu Hamam, built in 1741, and once having esteemed visitors including Florence Nightingale and Kaiser Wilhelm II, is on sale for a whopping $16 million, state Remax Turkey, local estate agents.
Another Turkish hamam, Ayakapi Hamam, which was also made by Sinan, has been put on sale for a price of $3 million.
The recent interest in the development and reinstatement of various famous Turkish baths has been inspired by the success of Cagaloglu Hamam. In Cagaloglu Hamam, a scrub and a message comes at a cost of nearly $55. Seeing a great income potential in these hamams, several developers are quick to cash in on this opportunity by buying hamams even at enormous prices.
Nearly 26.3 millions visited Turkey in the year 2008 and the numbers are going to increase further as Turkey aims to rope in nearly 63 million tourists by the year 2023. For this, special programs are being launched to boost infrastructure and new vacation themes including health and wellness by the government.
These traditional hamams of Turkey hold special significance for the tourists coming from different corners of the world. With an increase in the number of tourists, the glory of hamams is going to touch new heights in the times to come.
An interesting fact is that the interest of foreigners in these hamams has ignited the interest of the Turks in the development of the long neglected hamams. “When I hear my foreign friends wanting to go to hamams and talking about their experiences I envy them. I think I ought to look into it again,” stated a 75-year-old resident scholar of the Turkish Cultural Foundation, Nurhan Atasoy, who enjoyed visiting hamams as a child with her mother.
The revival of these traditional baths of Turkey reflects an interest in the Ottoman period in Turkey. Turkey, in its early periods, showed an inclination towards modernity and break from the traditions.
Says an Ottoman expert in Istanbul’s Koc University, Nina Ergin, “Since the 1980s everything Ottoman has been in vogue. At first the revival was orientated to tourists, but then people started to realize the value of Ottoman artifacts and traditions and wanted to find out more about their own past.”
To cite an example, not just tourists but also local Turks can be seen puffing waterpipes now days, which once were completely ignored and replaced by cigarettes.
Quite similar seems to be the case with the hamams which has spurred significant proliferation of a number of spa and wellness centers in Turkey, states Ergin.
She added that “A lot of people are realizing that with hamams they have these really old, beautiful wellness centers already in their country, and are thinking ‘why don’t we go to them?.”
Although, no official data is yet available showing the increasing value of spa and hamam industry, however, the director of Spa Association of Turkey, Zeki Karagulle, maintained that there was, unmistakably, a significant rising trend in the number of visitors to the spa these days.
Made of thick stone walls, dome-shaped roofs and a long series of cupolas, the hamams provide a relaxing atmosphere to the visitors. One can enjoy the experience of relaxing in a hot and humid marble chamber that helps to soften the skin from within.
Dressed in traditional clothing called a pestemal, the attendant at the hamam scrubs the body with vigorous strokes using a hard cloth to remove the dead skin cells and make the body smooth and soft. After the scrubbing, the visitors are provided with refreshing water dousing and left to stretch on the hot marble stone.
After undergoing this rejuvenating experience at the hamams, the bliss on the faces of the visitors is quite clearly apparent. An entrepreneur by profession, Ergin Iren, states that time is ripe for the hamams becoming fashionable once again in Turkey. “I think hamams could be fashionable again within a very short period if they are nicely run. Tourists would come first, but then Turks would come too,” Iren affirmed.
Iren said that he had never visited any traditional hamam until he was shown an abandoned Turkish bath for sale in the old city of Istanbul. And when Iren’s friend thought of an idea to turn it into a disco, Iren felt really bad and read in detail about the hamams. Also, he felt like buying a hamam.
However, it was only in 2005 that Iren got a chance to purchase a bath built by Sinan during 1580s. Iren is hoping that in 2010, Kilic Ali Pasa hamam will be opened as an exclusive hamam where entry would be provided by a prior reservation only.
Although, the tradition of hamam was developed in Muslim countries, however, hamams also held an important place in the social life of the people as men and women spent a couple of hours relaxing and gossiping.
Cagaloglu Hamami in Istanbul Turkey
A hamam in Sultanahmet Istanbul Turkey
Cagaloglu Hamam in Istanbul Turkey
Suleymaniye Hamam in Sultanahmet Istanbul
Istanbul’s baths make a comeback
For many of the seven million tourists who come to Istanbul every year, a trip to a hamam, or traditional Turkish bath, is a highlight of their visit - an authentic Ottoman-era experience.
Cagaloglu Hamami in Sultanahmet Istanbul Turkey
Dressed only in a skimpy cotton wrap and noisy wooden sandals, you sit in a drippingly humid steam room, under a perforated stone dome from which shafts of light stream down.
You are then led by beefy tellaks, traditional masseurs, to a heated marble slab in the middle of the chamber, and vigorously scrubbed and slapped around, before dousing yourself in cool water from the old brass taps set in the walls..
Perhaps borrowing some ideas from the bathing habits of the city's original Roman inhabitants, the Ottoman conquerors of Istanbul built some 150 hamams there between the 16th and 18th Centuries, and many more in other cities.
Some of the finest were built by Sinan, the most renowned architect of the Ottoman era.
For wealthy women of the period a trip to the hamam was part of the daily routine; they would spend hours there relaxing, chatting, and being groomed by their servants.
Ottoman revival
But over the past century the habit has died, and most of the original Ottoman hamams have fallen into disuse: some demolished, others converted into bars or store rooms.
Of the 48 hamams believed to have been built by Sinan, just a handful survive,, some of them in ruins.
There is a lot more interest in preserving our historical heritage now, and it is not restricted to more spectacular buildings like mosques. Hamams, and even Ottoman-era factories, are being renovated
Historian Nina Ergin
Only a few, like those in tourist areas - such as Cemberlitas, near the Spice Bazaar, and Cagaloglu, a stone's throw from Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque - have continued to thrive.
Cemberlitas was built by Sinan in 1584, as a commission from the wife of the Sultan. Cagaloglu was built in a spectacular neo-baroque style in 1741. A water crisis later in the 18th Century forced the Sultan to ban all further hamam construction.
"Most hamams were built to help fund the big foundations that were a feature of the Ottoma era," says historian Nina Ergin.
"They were rented out to fund mosques, hospitals and soup kitchens. But at the end of the 19th Century many of those foundations ran into financial difficulties, and offered rental periods of 200 to 300 years. That's how so many hamams have ended up in private hands."
But in recent years there has been something of an Ottoman revival among people living in Istanbul, and with it renewed interest in classic hamams.
Cemberlitas was substantially renovated in the 1980s; Cagaloglu is now on the market for $16m (£9.77m).
The growth of the spa industry around the world has also inspired some entrepreneurs to build new hamams, in shopping malls, hotels and health centres.
"It is very positive", says Ms Ergin. "There is a lot more interest in preserving our historical heritage now, and it is not restricted to more spectacular buildings like mosques. Hamams, and even Ottoman-era factories, are being renovated."
'Unique buy'
If you happen to have a spare $3m, plus perhaps the same again for restoration, you could buy yourself an authentic Sinan hamam, situated in the historic district of Aya Kapi close to the southern shore of the Golden Horn.
The hamam in Aya Kapi is in need of extensive renovation
It is little more than a pile of stones now; trees have taken root in its crumbling dome, and inside it is being used to store timber.
Estate agent Okan Aksudogan took me up a rickety ladder to see the magnificent brick structure inside the dome.
He believes that for the right kind of investor, at $3m the hamam is a bargain.
"He could probably get his money back, after renovation, in 10 to 15 years," he says. "But the asked price is maybe not the true value, it is just the value put on the business. But what you buy is something unique."
Planning regulations for historic buildings like this are very strict these days. Nina Ergin says that makes it difficult to find investors willing to put in the time and money needed to restore them.
But Mr Aksudogan hopes that either a cultural foundation, or a wealthy individual with a love of classical Ottoman architecture, can be persuaded to bring the Aya Kapi hamam back to its former glory.
(bbc.co.uk , Sunday, 25 October 2009)
The Historic Hamams in Istanbul
Cagaloglu Hamam Istanbul
The hamams or Turkish baths mushroomed in Istanbul during the 18th century. No doubt, the old tradition of the hamam is dying to a certain extent; however, they continue to hold a significant historical, cultural and architectural importance. Hamams are the special buildings in Istanbul that date back to the Byzantine and Roman periods.
Hamams also hold great significance in the social life of the people during the Ottoman era. Baths or hamams were considered to be central places of attraction during traditional ceremonies like weddings and other such occasions. During the Ottoman period, women spent entire day in the company of their friends in hamams not just bathing but singing, dancing and enjoying their time.
Baths held special meaning and importance for the brides. The brides went to a Turkish hamam with their friends and relatives as part of the wedding ceremonies. Not just women, even the men were brought to baths before joining their military service just for some fun and entertainment.
However, these days, hamams no longer serve the same purpose. Never the less, they do hold a special interest for any tourist visiting Istanbul. Some Turkish people still go to the hamams to know how the people during the Ottoman period took bath and it’s not just the locals but also some tourists who consider it must to go to any traditional bath. The most popular bath which registered nearly 100,000 visitors in the year 2008 is the Suleymaniye bath.
Each bath has a unique and different story related to it. A large number of the baths were built to offer monetary aid to some charity institutes. Built by the Ottoman dynasty rulers or their families, these baths boast of being unique pieces of architectural delight.
The Cagaloglu bath, one of the famous baths of the Ottoman period located near the Basilica Cistern, was built primarily to provide monetary aid to the mosque Aya Sofia. It is a unique bath built by Mahmut I in the baroque style. The Cagaloglu bath is the last bath built during the Ottoman period before the construction of the big baths was prohibited in the year 1768 due to large consumption of wood and water.
Yet another famous and historical bath of Istanbul is the Suleymaniye bath. Built by Mimar Sinan, the Suleymaniye bath was built along with the Suleymaniye Mosque in 1557. The cabin where Sultan Suleymaniye, the first person to take bath here, bathed adds special importance to this place and is a famous tourist attraction.
The two most important things to be done by any tourist visiting Istanbul is visiting a Turkish bath apart from eating a kebab, visiting Aya Sofya Museum and the Sultanahmet. No doubt, a number of traditional baths have been created in Turkey’s famous hotels. But, they cannot recreate the magic and the historical atmosphere of the hamams or the Turkish baths. The attendants known as tellaks are responsible for providing body message and bathing the customer. They are considered to be an integral part of the traditional Turkish baths.
- Cagaloglu Hamami Turkish Bath Sultanahmet Istanbul Turkey
Cagaloglu Hamam Istanbul
- Cagaloglu Hamami Turkish Bath Sultanahmet Istanbul Turkey
