Menu:
Turkish Bath
The Turkish bath is a method of cleansing the body and allowing it to relax. Turkish bath is also called "hammam". The word "hammam" simply means "bathroom" or "toilet" in many dialects of vernacular Arabic. The name is attached with its origin.
Turkish bath does not only mean to clean your skin. It has much more to do than just a cleanse the skin. It's intimately bound up with everyday life of Turkish people, a place where people of every rank and station, young and old, rich and poor, townsman or villager, could come freely.
Mingle, Socialize and Gossip:
History tells us that the Turkish bath tubs were not merely a place where believers fulfill the Islamic precept of cleanliness. It was a place in which to mingle, socialize and gossip. The young women used this opportunity to show off their ornately embroidered towels and ivory inlaid slippers, not to mention their youthful figures, while older women would spot potential wives for their sons. Men would discuss the latest court scandal or talk business and politics.
How are they built?
Externally, they have a distinctive domed profile, with bottle glass directing beams of light inwards. The first room that you will encounter is called the camekan, a square court with a fountain surrounded by small individual changing cubicles. This will lead you into a small sogukluk, or cooling off section, opening into the hararet, the hot and steamy, marble clad baths. This is where you take actual bath.
How does it work?
When the level of steam in the room exceeds the level of water on the skin, a layer of moisture forms on the skin and warms the body. The simultaneous action of steam and controlled heat helps blood and lymphatic circulation by dissolving toxins and promoting their expulsion.
What Happens In a Hammam?
Upon entering the hammam, you will find yourself in a dressing room, or camekan, which is surrounded by private cubicles where you dress. Your attendant will give you a cotton wrap, or pestemal, and a pair of slippers, or terlik, along with a key to your cubicle. Once you have removed all your clothing and wrapped the cotton cloth around you like a skirt, you are ready to go. Then you are taken to a warm, humid room with a raised stone platform (goebektas) in the center, surrounded by bathing alcoves, in pretty coloured quartz tiles. The tiles remove static electricity from the air, and help to relax the mind and body. The light, diffused through glass in the ceiling is soft and relaxing.
In Turkey, the advent of modern plumbing systems, showers, and bathtubs in homes caused the importance of hammams to fade in recent times. However many historical hamams survive, and a visit is highly recommended.