Çemberlitaş Hamamı

Çemberlitaş Hamamı is a historical Turkish bath (Turkish: hamam) located on Divanyolu Street in the Çemberlitaş neighborhood of Istanbul, Turkey. It was constructed by Mimar Sinan in 1584.[1]

Entrance to the Hammam

Seen from Divan Yolu Street

Creation

The Patron and the Architect

Street view of the Cemberlitas Hamami and 'The Burnt Column'

The Çemberlitaş Hamamı was commissioned by Nurbanu Sultan, the head of Istanbul's imperial harem after the death of her second husband Selim II. After his death, her first son ascended to the throne and she held the title "Mother of the Sultan". She was responsible for guarding the royal family and had the highest power to exercise administrative control over the imperial harem. In order to manage them she was given a stipend that increased with the number of the women in the harem. She used it to develop several charitable endowments which included the Çemberlitaş Hamamı.[2]

As a charitable endowment, the main intention of the hamam was to serve Istanbulites, however, it fulfilled many other purposes. It was an addition to infrastructure which helped to communicate the power of the imperial family, and through its economic success, it funded the creation of new mosque complexes such as the Atik Valide Mosque complex in Istanbul.[2]

Mimar Sinan is the credited architect of the Çemberlitaş Hamamı. However, in his five-volume autobiography which lays claim to all his completed works, the Çemberlitaş is only cited once in the fifth volume written after his death. When compared to the Atik Valide Mosque Complex which he lists in all five volumes, the Çemberlitaş Hamamı was likely built by the team of architects that worked under him and completed his smaller projects with little to no supervision.[2]

Exterior view of one of the domes

Architectural Elements

Çemberlitaş was built on Divan Yolu, a processional road from the Byzantine Era that once led to Rome.[3] There were two separate sections for men and women. The men's front entrance was decorated with a gold thuluth inscription on a green background written by the poet Sa'i-I Da'i praising the patron Nurbanu Sultan and the hamam.[3] In contrast, the women's entrance was placed in a discreet area with no decoration to preserve their modesty.

The first room of Çemberlitaş Hamamı through the entrance is a dressing room, or sogukluk, to change for the bath. The chambers are built of wood and space provides a lounge for socializing and a place to get refreshments after services were performed.[3] Following that is the iliklik, or warm room, which is a narrow hallway to prepare for the hot room, or sicaklik, where people are bathed.

The sicaklik is a square room but with the placement of its 12 columns and bathing chambers and niches in recesses around the perimeter, it gives the illusion of a dodecagonal space. In the center is a heated marble slab, or göbektası, where bathers would lay to work up a sweat.[3]

In the back of Çemberlitaş is the furnace, which provides centralized heat for the entire building. Modeled after ancient Roman heating systems, there is a hollow created between the bottom of the building and the foundation underneath where smoke and hot gases circulate and push through flues between the walls to heat the rooms, with someone fueling the fire.[3]

The Çemberlitaş Hamamı allowed for a cultural gathering of the Turkish and led to great financial success. When referred to in economic reports listing the profit success rankings of the city, the Çemberlitaş was often listed above many other places of business such as shops, fields, gardens, and houses which were taxed for revenue.[4]

Employees

Çemberlitaş was located in a central area of Istanbul surrounded by mosques and near a bazaar so it serviced a large number of Istanbulites, mainly men. Due to its popularity, there were many different positions to work in the hamam. For the women's section, there was a hamam anasi or “mother of the hamam” as given by the literal translation.[3] Some people oversaw the running of the hamam and a team of supervisors and fee collectors worked under them. There were cooks to make coffee and refreshments, a furnace stoker, laundrymen, bathhouse attendants, servants, and tellaks (people who bathed the customers).

Tellaks were often migrants or people who didn't have homes in Istanbul, and instead lived permanently in the hamam and sent a portion of their salary, which was made up of tips, to their family. Until the late 18th century, the majority of them were Albanian and the job was generational, with men following in the footsteps of their fathers to work there.[3] Tellaks were chosen based on physical strength, appearance, and an approachable personality before being trained in the art of caring for their future customers by learning to wash hair, clean their bodies, and massaging them with the scrubbing glove.[3]

Interior view of the men's sogukluk

Signs of Wear and Tear

Multiple fires affected the Çemberlitaş Hamamı during its lifetime. During the Ottoman Empire, buildings like Çemberlitaş in Istanbul were built with stone and brick.[2] The lack of a fire fighting unit also contributed to the amount of damage each fire.

In July 1660, there was a fire that raged so intensely over two days that left Çemberlitaş and the area around it so devastated that rent at the hamam was slashed in half.[2]

The region of Istanbul, Turkey is high in seismic activity so the area around the Çemberlitaş Hamamı is frequented with earthquakes. However, due to the hamams practice of alternating brick with layers of stone masonry, the Çemberlitaş Hamamı was able to absorb violent movements.[2]

There were massive earthquakes in 1719, 1754, and 1766 along with a fire in 1782 that resulted in extensive structural damage to the hamam.[2]

Renovations/Modernization

Icareteyn is the practice of double renting and became popular in the eighteenth century so people would invest capital as a result of the decline of the Çemberlitaş' revenue. By allowing renters to become co-owners and not have to rent for limited terms it encouraged them to invest money in renovations and restorations rather than ditching the efforts after an earthquake or fire to the bathhouse they would have to give up months later.[2] This lasted until 1829 when the hamam didn't need the financial help anymore.

Front facing view of the entrance

Most of the renovations we see now done to the Çemberlitaş Hamamı occurred during the nineteenth century when there was more of an effort to modernize turkey like its European counterparts.[2]

In February 1667-8, around 6% of the Çemberlitaş income was spent on water conduits and unspecified repairs.[2]

In 1768 a royal decree was issued prohibiting further construction of hamams as they were causing too much of a strain on the water and fuel supply. This allowed for the focus of hamams to be on the renovation and preservation of existing structures.[2]

In 1770, there was work done on the inscription on the marble room dividers in the men’s hot room, evidenced by inconsistencies in the calligraphy.[2]

Prior to March 1786, there were again renovations made to the water conduits outside Istanbul that supplied the Çemberlitaş.[2]

There were also renovations in 1790 to the interior and the roof of Çemberlitaş and waterways.[2]

In 1805 the lead cover of the domes and water conduits and unspecified places.[2]

During the Tanzimat Period that took place from 1839-1876, Istanbul’s architecture was on reform, with more emphasis being placed on Byzantine monuments. Streets were remodeled to direct towards these relics of a powerful past, and bathhouses were rendered insignificant in comparison.[2]

Mustafa Resit Pasa, an urban planner who had travelled to Europe on diplomatic missions admired European city planning and strived to recreate it in istanbul. In 1868, he renovated Divan Yolu around the Çemberlitaş Hamamı after a fire in 1865.[4]

Sewers were installed, streets were widened and streets were to cut through blocks to point towards historic monuments, all of which required the partial demolition of part of the Çemberlitaş Hamamı and its dome, forcing the women’s section to be closed indefinitely.[4]

The street level surrounding Çemberlitaş rose so much that a staircase was built to allow entry into the men's sogukluk and broken off diagonally so that women could access their own entrance to the women's iliklik.[4]

Until December 2003, the women's sogukluk was converted to a restaurant serving traditional Anatolian food.[4]

Conversion to Tourist Attraction

With the ushering in of the Turkish Republic in 1922, bathhouses were rendered obsolete, often being completely destroyed to make way for new infrastructure. The Çemberlitaş Hamamı however, had a consistent influx of money almost entirely from tourists which allowed it to remain standing.[4]

After people started living in apartments with bathrooms the use of hamams became more and more obsolete, so the Çemberlitaş Hamamı was visited less out of necessity and more for the search of historical relics.[4]

Tourism became the primary revenue for the Çemberlitaş Hamamı, as foreign visitors now make up the majority of visits to the hamam itself.[4]

Hamams have held a high appeal by foreign tourists due to its romanticization in cultures as a sensuous experience in movies, artwork, and through the stories of travelers throughout the decades. Amongst these, orientalist paintings, films, travel, magazines, and guide books also contributed to the belief that hamams like the Çemberlitaş were worth visiting.[2]

On the other side, many Turkish citizens consider historical relics like the Çemberlitaş Hamamı to hold cultural significance as a callback of the Ottoman empire.

Architectural influence

In the Indian city of Bhopal, the 18th century Hammam-e-Qadimi, was built in the style of Çemberlitaş Hamamı.[5]

References

1. "History | Çemberlitaş Hamamı". Cemberlitashamami.com. Retrieved 2013-01-24.
2. Macaraig, Nina. Çemberli̇taș Hamamı in Istanbul: the Biographical Memoir of a Turkish Bath. Edinburgh University Press Ltd, 2019.
3. Ergin, Nina. “Bathing Business in Istanbul: A Case Study of the Cemberlitas Hamami in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.” Bathing Culture of Anatolian Civilizations: Architecture, History, and Imagination, Peeters, 2011, pp. 142–169.
4. Cichocki, Nina. The Life Story of the Çemberlitaş Hamam: from Bath to Tourist Attraction.
5. Nath, Rabindra (8 January 2018). "400-year-old Turkish spa a big hit in Bhopal". The Asian Age. Retrieved 28 February 2018.