Catalogue Entry: The Cemberlitas Hamami
The Cemberlitas Hamami is a bathhouse located in Istanbul, Turkey. Cemberlitas is Istanbul’s oldest public bathhouse and has been in continual use for over five centuries, providing locals with a place for ritual ablution and socialization [1]. Its unassuming stone and brick façade, now enjambed between storefronts, open to reveal a structure of great historical richness.
Cemberlitas has a double bath orientation, featuring two symmetrical, parallel, gender separated bathing operations under one dome roof [1]. Originally, the bathhouse had two separate entrance to prevent intermingling between genders by facilitating their immediate separation upon entry [1]. Male bathers entered through a door topped with an porticoed building inscription, whereas female bathers entered from a more discreet side entrance [1]. The logic behind this separation was that the subtlety of the female entrance would serve to protect their modesty [1]. Today, however, both male and female visitors use the main, porticoed entrance.
The primary dressing room for each entrance measured 13 meters in length, providing ample sitting room for its visitors [1]. This “cold room” is where visitors would undress and prepare for bathing. Light streaming in from the dome led its processing bathers into a large rectangular “warm room” with lined with marble basins [1]. This middle room lead down the corridor to the “hot room” of Cemberlitas: the structure’s jewel and site of cleansing.
These hot rooms are decagonal in orientation, and feature four niches along with smaller, pocketed rooms throughout for privacy [1]. The four niches create a unified central space and allow for a smooth transition from a square architectural ground plan into a domed superstructure [2]. Walls dividing the niches were constructed to be half helight, allowing conversation to flow freely between enclaves [1]. The hot room was encircled by twelve peripheral columns enclosing a central marble slab, which was heated and provided bathers a location to lounge [3]. Although small alterations and repairs have been conducted over Cemberlitas’ extensive history, its original architecture has astoundingly remained intact [1].
Among the structures extant features are carved ornamental bands on some of the hot rooms’ dividing walls, which give a sense of some original decorative program [2]. Additionally, there is an inscription of twenty qur’anic verses on the male hot room’s dividing walls [2]. Apart from these ornamentations, Cemberlitas’ decorative program is spare and understated, allowing its architectural volume to shine.
The Cemberlitas Hamami was completed in 1524 under the supervision of Mimar Sinan [4]. As a classical Ottoman hammam, Cemberlitas is most effectively appreciated when positioned as the latest entry in a family tree of bathing structures from history [4]. Cemberlitas’ earliest forefathers are 5th century BCE Ancient Greek baths, found in settings like gymnasiums [4]. These Greek baths were communal places with a specific physical and hygienic function [4]. The Hellenistic tradition of public bathing gave birth to Roman bathing culture, in which large imperial thermae and smaller balnae were constructed, each with clear definition of rooms in accordance with the order of their use and with temperature gradation [4]. It is at this stage that the first true hypocaust system was pioneered in the 2nd century BCE. In the hypocaust system, suspended floors create a hollow space through which heated air can rise and offer warmth [4].
Later, Romano-Byzantine baths in Syria, Jordan, and Palestine helped outline a map for later Islamic bath architecture in two ways. First, these structures aligned vaulted cold and warm rooms with a domed hot room in a linear fashion [4]. Second, this line of rooms was attached to a general reception area [4]. While the baths of desert cities and palaces were primarily an Umayyad tradition, the Abbasid dynasty also constructed bathhouses in their urban imperial complexes [4]. It was under Abbasid dynastic rule that bathing became a vital part of Islamic city life [4]. In pre-Islamic Iran, the spread of bathhouses was limited due to the Zoroastrian belief that water was a holy element and bathing was pollution [4]. However, the arrival of the Islamic faith coupled with its prescriptions on ritual cleanliness served to revoke Zoroastrian protest [4]. Lastly, the Iranian-Seljuk tradition is responsible for the incorporation of a four-Iwan plan into the bathhouse structure [4]. It is from this complex historical lineage that the Cemberlitas Hamami emerges.
Cemberlitas inherits from the Roman thermae the hypocaust heating system, the order of use from cold to hot rooms, and the domed nature of its hot room [4]. The bathhouse takes from its Arab-Islamic ancestors its large dressing room and from its Iranian-Seljuk ancestors, its four-Iwan plan incorporated within its hot room [4],
Cemberlitas was constructed under the supervision of Mimar Sinan, an eminent Ottoman architect [1]. Sinan was born between 1429 and 1491 in Anatolia [4]. Born a Christian, Sinan converted to Islam after being recruited by the Ottoman army around 1514. During his recruitment, Sinan became a military engineer, building bridges, fortifications, and catapults [4]. However, Sinan left behind his career as a military engineer when offered the position of chief architect in 1539 [4].
Sinan is known to have created over 300 structures and consulted dozens more, including mosques, palaces, tombs, and caravansaries [1;5]. Given his experience with previous governmental projects, Sinan was given the responsibility of creating a bathhouse that would adequately fit the spirit of its surrounding area, which included the mosque complex called Atik Valide Kulliyesi [1]. However, one must proceed with careful consideration in assessing Sinan’s individual role in the bath’s construction.
Because the patron of the mosque complex was a high-ranking member of the royal family, Sinan certainly carried out site selection, design, and building supervision [4]. Cemberlitas is only mentioned in the most unreliable version of Sinan’s biography — unreliable in the sense that it lists among Sinan’s works monuments constructed after his death in 1522 [4].
Sinan is considered the individual architect responsible for developing and refining the classical Ottoman architectural style [5], and Cemberlitas, albeit precariously, stands a prime example of his brilliance.
The Cemberlitas Hamami could also not exist without the patronage of Nurbanu Sultan, wife of Selim II. In 1537, almost six decades before Cemberlitas came into being, the Ottoman fleet under Admiral Barbaros raided the Greek islands of the Aegean and brought 2,000 captured slaves back to Istanbul [4]. Nurbanu Sultan was one of these slaves, then no more than twelve years of age [4]. Upon her arrival, Nurbanu joined the imperial harem [4]. Selim II became enamored with the young woman, and Nurbanu was inducted into the prince’s harem, giving birth to four children [4]. Nurbanu and Selim II formally married in 1571, where Nurbanu was given an enormous dowry, which she used to establish charitable endowments and partake in architectural patronage [4].
Following the sudden death of her husband Selim II in 1574 and the subsequent ascension of her son, Murad III, to the throne, Nurbanu’s position as the sultan’s mother cemented her as the most powerful woman in the Ottoman Empire [4]. With her newly increased power and responsibility, Nurbanu was able to invest in her endowments and patronages more fully, developing structures like the Cemberlitas Hamami [4].
The luxurious Cemberlitas Hamami was originally intended to fulfill a practical spiritual need of cleansing and provide economic support for the Sultan’s nearby mosque complex, Atik Valide Kulliyesi [1]. Cemberlitas was one of four baths constructed in Istanbul with the aim of generating income for this complex [1]. The bathhouse as a central social institution also served to employ many Istanbul residents in roles such as furnace-stokers, attendants, laundrymen, coffee cooks, and bath servants [1].
The Cemberlitas Hamami was a site of ritual cleansing and socialization, offering people the opportunity to meet with each other, exchange news, and share in pleasures [4]. Islam places great emphasis on cleanliness and purity, both internally and externally [4]. Internal purity refers to the absence of excessive pride and cultivation of love, whereas external cleanliness refers to good physical hygiene. In Islam, there is an explicit connection between washing and purification from sin [4].
The site’s secondary intent was to provide a social arena that people of the city could frequent [1]. This relates very centrally to my group’s topic of architecture, as this social intent can be better understood in assessing the hammam’s layout. The enclaves in the hot room promoted gathering and the reduction of barriers between these enclaves allowed for smooth conversational flow [1]. Also, the open nature of the central heating slab, the core of the hot room stands as a symbol of Cemberlitas’ openness and inviting warmth [1].
Cemberlitas relates to the class theme of community very directly. The public bath was a vital social institution in Middle Eastern cities, promoting hygiene and public health as well as serving as meeting places where people could relax and socialize [6]. Cemberlitas is no exception, offering itself as a platform for religious and social engagement [1]. Furthermore, it’s inclusion of both genders in its architectural program allowed for all members of the community to regularly visit the hammam and partake in such activities, providing a meeting place within the framework of its spiritual and practical necessity [1].
Notes
1. Buckler, “Practicality,”
2. Ergin, “Cemberlitas”
3. Cichocki, “The Life Story”
4. Macaraig, “Cemberlitas”
5. Britannica, “Sinan”
6. Williams, “Baths”
Bibliography
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