The building, on a hill facing the Golden Horn, was built in 1557 by Turkish architect, Mimar Sinan, and was named for his patron, Süleyman the Magnificent, who had commissioned it.

The Sülemaniye Hamam is a traditional bathhouse consisting of three sections: cold, lukewarm and hot.

Another private cubicle reserved for the sultan was later used for high-ranking theological scholars.

[2] It is the only hamam in Istanbul where men and women bathe together, something that would never have happened in the past.

Male attendants, called tellak, look after all the clients,[3] again something that would never have happened in the past.