Çemberlitaş Hamamı

Çemberlitaş was located in a central area of Istanbul surrounded by mosques and near a bazaar so it serviced a large number of Istanbulites, mainly men. Due to its popularity, there were many different positions to work in the hamam. For the women's section, there was a hamam anasi or “mother of the hamam” as given by the literal translation.[3] Some people oversaw the running of the hamam and a team of supervisors and fee collectors worked under them. 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. Until the late 18th century, the majority of them were Albanian and the job was generational, with men following in the footsteps of their fathers to work there.[3] Tellaks were chosen based on physical strength, appearance, and an approachable personality before being trained in the art of caring for their future customers by learning to wash hair, clean their bodies, and massaging them with the scrubbing glove.[3]

Interior view of the men's sogukluk

Multiple fires affected the Çemberlitaş Hamamı during its lifetime. During the Ottoman Empire, buildings like Çemberlitaş in Istanbul were built with stone and brick.[2] The lack of a fire fighting unit also contributed to the amount of damage each fire.

In July 1660, there was a fire that raged so intensely over two days that left Çemberlitaş and the area around it so devastated that rent at the hamam was slashed in half.[2]

The region of Istanbul, Turkey is high in seismic activity so the area around the Çemberlitaş Hamamı is frequented with earthquakes. However, due to the hamams practice of alternating brick with layers of stone masonry, the Çemberlitaş Hamamı was able to absorb violent movements.[2]

There were massive earthquakes in 1719, 1754, and 1766 along with a fire in 1782 that resulted in extensive structural damage to the hamam.[2]

Icareteyn is the practice of double renting and became popular in the eighteenth century so people would invest capital as a result of the decline of the Çemberlitaş' revenue. By allowing renters to become co-owners and not have to rent for limited terms it encouraged them to invest money in renovations and restorations rather than ditching the efforts after an earthquake or fire to the bathhouse they would have to give up months later.[2] This lasted until 1829 when the hamam didn't need the financial help anymore.

Front facing view of the entrance

Most of the renovations we see now done to the Çemberlitaş Hamamı occurred during the nineteenth century when there was more of an effort to modernize turkey like its European counterparts.[2]

In February 1667-8, around 6% of the Çemberlitaş income was spent on water conduits and unspecified repairs.[2]

In 1768 a royal decree was issued prohibiting further construction of hamams as they were causing too much of a strain on the water and fuel supply. This allowed for the focus of hamams to be on the renovation and preservation of existing structures.[2]

In 1770, there was work done on the inscription on the marble room dividers in the men’s hot room, evidenced by inconsistencies in the calligraphy.[2]

Prior to March 1786, there were again renovations made to the water conduits outside Istanbul that supplied the Çemberlitaş.[2]

There were also renovations in 1790 to the interior and the roof of Çemberlitaş and waterways.[2]

In 1805 the lead cover of the domes and water conduits and unspecified places.[2]

During the Tanzimat Period that took place from 1839-1876, Istanbul’s architecture was on reform, with more emphasis being placed on Byzantine monuments. Streets were remodeled to direct towards these relics of a powerful past, and bathhouses were rendered insignificant in comparison.[2]

Mustafa Resit Pasa, an urban planner who had travelled to Europe on diplomatic missions admired European city planning and strived to recreate it in istanbul. In 1868, he renovated Divan Yolu around the Çemberlitaş Hamamı after a fire in 1865.[4]

Sewers were installed, streets were widened and streets were to cut through blocks to point towards historic monuments, all of which required the partial demolition of part of the Çemberlitaş Hamamı and its dome, forcing the women’s section to be closed indefinitely.[4]

The street level surrounding Çemberlitaş rose so much that a staircase was built to allow entry into the men's sogukluk and broken off diagonally so that women could access their own entrance to the women's iliklik.[4]

Until December 2003, the women's sogukluk was converted to a restaurant serving traditional Anatolian food.[4]

With the ushering in of the Turkish Republic in 1922, bathhouses were rendered obsolete, often being completely destroyed to make way for new infrastructure. The Çemberlitaş Hamamı however, had a consistent influx of money almost entirely from tourists which allowed it to remain standing.[4]

After people started living in apartments with bathrooms the use of hamams became more and more obsolete, so the Çemberlitaş Hamamı was visited less out of necessity and more for the search of historical relics.[4]

Tourism became the primary revenue for the Çemberlitaş Hamamı, as foreign visitors now make up the majority of visits to the hamam itself.[4]

Hamams have held a high appeal by foreign tourists due to its romanticization in cultures as a sensuous experience in movies, artwork, and through the stories of travelers throughout the decades. Amongst these, orientalist paintings, films, travel, magazines, and guide books also contributed to the belief that hamams like the Çemberlitaş were worth visiting.[2]

On the other side, many Turkish citizens consider historical relics like the Çemberlitaş Hamamı to hold cultural significance as a callback of the Ottoman empire.

In the Indian city of Bhopal, the 18th century Hammam-e-Qadimi, was built in the style of Çemberlitaş Hamamı.[5]