Çemberlitaş Hamamı

The Çemberlitaş Hamamı was commissioned by Nurbanu Sultan, the head of the Ottoman imperial harem after the death of her second husband Selim II.

In contrast to the Atik Valide Mosque 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.

[3] The practice of double renting, or icareteyn, became popular in the 18th century and allowed people to invest capital in the hamam as a result of the fall in its revenue.

[3] Mustafa Resit Pasa, an urban planner who had travelled to Europe on diplomatic missions, admired European city planning and strove to recreate it in Istanbul.

[4] Later sewers were installed, streets were widened and reoriented, which required the demolition of part of the Çemberlitaş Hamamı and its dome, forcing the closure of the women's section.

[4] After people started living in apartments with private bathrooms the use of hamams became more and more obsolete, so the Çemberlitaş Hamamı was visited less from necessity and more by those in search of a historical experience.

The entrance to the men's section was decorated with a gold thuluth inscription on a green background written by the poet Sa'i-I Da'i that praises Nurbanu Sultan and the hamam.

[1] The hamam is located in a central area of Istanbul surrounded by mosques and near the Grand Bazaar so it served a large number of Istanbulites, particularly men.

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.

[1] Tellaks were chosen according to their physical strength, appearance and personality before being trained in the art of caring for their future customers by learning to wash their hair, clean their bodies, and massage them with the scrubbing glove.