The Turkish bath – the historical institution, in which people wash, relax and chat – is, at first sight, a harmless phenomenon. Paradoxically, however, it has created an entire rift of cultural differences between Western Europe and the Balkans.

For people from the peninsula, the Turkish bath is most often a curse. Telling someone you wish he would end up in the Turkish bath means wishing him a death that is simultaneously violent, painful and humiliating. The expression, in a way, gives rise to all kinds of associations that come to mind with the prison scenes from the cult film “Orient Express.”

Quite the opposite, in Western Europe the Turkish bath symbolises daring, mysterious pleasures, with a faint hint of erotica – a beautiful, oriental version of European spa therapy.

It seems like one of them is seriously confused. Is it the Balkans’ inhabitants, with their historical prejudices, or the Western Europeans, with their made-up reality?

Actually, the explanation is not so dramatic: if the inhabitants of the Balkans get their perception of the hamams from their past as a lower-tier people in the Ottoman Empire, the West Europeans know the baths from the writing of the rich and free vagabonds, with their tendency to romanticise, who crossed Europe, their imagination set ablaze by the splendid decadence of the Sublime Porte. Or from films and musicals, such as “Harem,” which romanticise and poeticise the history and habits of the East in a Hollywood-kind of way.

It seems that it is precisely this perception that will be the perception of the free people of the future. Because the romanticised Western idea of the beautiful, relaxing and luxurious hamams today is used as a guide in a new trend – that of the rebirth of Turkish baths.

Over the last few decades, with the emancipation of the Turkish republic and the continuous building of its infrastructure, the institution of the public baths had almost died down, similarly to many of the Balkan countries. Hundreds of splendid hamams, used for centuries on end across the whole country, were abandoned and were either torn down, as to make place for new construction, or left to time’s destructive effect.



Lately, however, especially in Istanbul, the growing tourist interest towards the Turkish baths has started to turn this trend around. The curiosity towards local culture and the overall development of the spa industry led to a sharp turn. As a result, many enterpreneurs spend millions of dollars to buy and restore some of Istanbul’s most beautiful hamams, which have been neglected for decades.



“There is a good future for hamams. People have realised they are a strong business and there is a lot of interest in buying or managing them,” Aydin Bulut, manager of the Suleymaniye hamam, told Reuters. His bath was built in 1557 by Mimar Sinan, the prolific architect behind Istanbul’s most celebrated structures.

Despite of the years of decline, the surviving hamams in the city are not few. The more impressive among them have reached quite high prices. Cagaloglu Hamam in Istanbul, which was built in 1741, and was visited by Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II and Florence Nightingale, is on sale for 16 million US dollars. The smaller Ayakapi hamam, also built by Sinan but is currently not used as a bath, is for sale for 3 million US dollars.

In a similar fashion, the prices of the services in Turkish baths have risen too in recent years. While until two or three years ago, going to a hamam in Turkey cost mere change (and that is still true for many towns in the country’s interior), prices for a scrubbing in Istanbul reach 55 US dollars. This, however, does not seem to stop the flow of tourists and encourages investors.

According to Reuters, the new comers’ interest has also caused a rebirth of the Turks’ taste to their national cleaning procedures. “When I heard that my friends from abroad want to go to a Turkish bath and later share their experiences, I felt like going too. I have decided to go again,” said a 75-year-old Turk, cited by the agency, who as a child used to go to a hamam with his mother.

All of that has a wonderful impact on Istanbul’s hamams, which – together with the multiplying restaurants that offer Ottoman cuisine, gardens in which to smoke nargile, or water pipe, and the gaming salons, reinstate the spoiling atmosphere of the erstwhile capital of imperial Turkey.
In reality, visiting a hamam, in addition to a hygienic procedure, is becoming more and more a cultural experince. Kind of like going to a musical.

The better known hamams of Istanbul:

Cagaloglu Hamami
www.cagaloluhamami.com.tr
(212) 522 2424

This hamam was included in the “1000 places to see before you die ,” and it is perhaps the most famous in the city.



The impressive historical building that houses it has been generously exploited by people who nowadays work with images – it appears in one of the Indiana Jones episodes and in a VISA card commercial. The fantastic atmosphere delivers on its promises: a good bath, followed by a nap with tea. In addition, the hamam is a return to the Ottoman Empire’s pluralism – in addition to a Turkish bath, it also offers mikveh – a ritual Jewish bath.

Cemberlitas Hamami
www.cemberlitashamami.com.tr
(212) 522 7974



This hamam, which also enjoys popularity among tourists, was built in 1584 and, like Cagaloglu Hamami, is for both men and women. The more beautiful changing room, however, is the men’s. The bath was built by Mimar Sinan in his late period, which – according to restorers, is characteristic with its wonderful combination of function, elegance and calmness in the space, as well as with more decorative elements.

Tarihi Galatasaray Hamami
www.galatasarayhamami.com
(212) 244 1412



Also one of Istanbul’s historical hamams, and – according to some guidebooks, one whose prices are too high for what’s on offer.

Suleymanie Hamami
www.suleymaniyehamami.com.tr
(212) 519 5569



This hamam of the architect Sinan gave the name of the Suleymanie neighbourhood in Eminönü and it is one of Istanbul’s beautiful historical baths. Built in 1557 as part of a complex, together with a mosque, a medrese, a hospital, a mental institution, a market and an elementary school. An exceptional architectural specimen, the bath carries the splendour and luxury from Suleiman the Magnificent’s time.

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