Turkish Hamam Museum in Gaziantep: Clean it like the Turks

Stone buildings hug the quiet, narrow, cobbled-stoned network of alleys. Here, ‘modern’ seems to be a foreign concept. A soothing melody from the speaker, carelessly kept on the pavement, reminds me of the current century. A few more minutes of walking and I arrive at my stop. Through an arched doorway, I enter one of the buildings. Immediately, a small set of steep staircases takes me deeper inside. Now I am in a high domed hall, beneath a skylight complemented by a frugal chandelier — in the first section of Hamam Muzeri or Turkish Hamam Museum of Gaziantep.

Gaziantep turns out to be that quintessential Anatolian city which ticks all the boxes. With 18 museums, most of them being unusual, Gaziantep can get even the most disinterested folks excited about history. Cleanliness and hygiene had always been a part of ancient Greek and Roman Empires, followed by the Byzantine Empire. The Ottomans amplified the importance of the already existing bath culture. In Anatolia, hamams or Turkish baths became ubiquitous. In Gaziantep, the tradition of hamams even led to the creation of new words like curun (marble basin), gayme (female rubber) and many more, enriching the local vocabulary.

Hammam in Anatolia — Entrance of the Hamam Museum of Gaziantep

Hamam Muzeri of Gaziantep

The Hamam Museum in Gaziantep was an operational hamam for several centuries before becoming obsolete and being turned into a museum. Built by Lala Mustafa Pasha in 1577, the building flaunts an Ottoman-era architecture. A typical hamam is always divided into three sections— Frigidarium (the cold room), Tepidarium (the warm room) and Caldarium (the hot room) — a framework passed on from the Romans. In this museum, each section of the hamam has panels in both English and Turkish describing its utility and cultural importance.

In the first chamber, traditional Turkish bath towels hang from ropes. Wax mannequins and paintings try to uphold scenes from the past. Old utensils and bath items, some of them being unique to only Gaziantep, are put on display throughout the three chambers. No wonder the day before, I came across an entourage of musicians singing a song on the bath culture. In Gaziantep city, hamams are so deep-seated that there exist folk songs and idioms on public bath.

Soaps have always been a very essential item of the Turkish baths in the Ottoman era. Scented soap production is still in vogue in Turkey. In the Hamam Muzeri, several of such Ottoman soaps are stacked to inform the tourists of the opulent past. The museum also sheds light on the feasts and rituals held in the hamam during the circumcision of a male child.

Women, men and bonding sessions

Hamams were either dual, having a separate space for women, or single. In single hamams, a scheduled time of the day or day of the week were reserved for women. For women, hamams were a place to gossip, exchange news, meet new people and even select prospective brides for male family members! The ritual of pouring simsirak— a lotion of rose, musk and amber scents on a bride’s head in the hamam constituted an important ritual in Gaziantep. The accessories and clothes a woman carried with her to the hamam reflected her status and wealth.

In Gaziantep’s bath culture, women typically prepared three bundles for a public bath session. Some of the accessories like mirrors, kirdenlik— copper cauldron to put in used clothes for laundry— are represented through paintings. Others like two sided ivory combs and the pouch, which is a silk or woolen purse to hold the valuables, are put on display.

Hamam Muzeri Gaziantep — Mannequins depicting a ritual in hamam

It was not just females who bonded over hamam sessions. ‘Bridegroom baths’ or Damat Hamami is a ritual where a bridegroom is taken to a public bath by his closest male friend before and after marriage. In such a bath session, musicians play instruments, friends sing songs and a feast ensues with cig kofte (steak tartar).

As I move from the cold room to the warm room to finally the hot room, entire stories unfold before my eyes. On stone slabs figurines demonstrate a typical bath process going on— the rubber (masseuse) cleaning the customer. The hamam is Spartan in its décor, with Islamic arches, fountains and skylights in each section. Gaziantep’s public baths also contained a dedicated section called gulleytin with a special pool for Jewish patrons.

Turkish hamam museum — The skylight in *Caldarium*

Turks constructed hamams in all social complex structures like markets, mosques and palaces. When the world became more connected and economy boomed, people had enough money to build private baths in their own residences and the demand for hamams dwindled. Nevertheless, some hamams still live on.

To watch my Gaziantep video on Youtube, please click here.

Have you been to a hamam? Did you enjoy reading about the bath culture? Comment below and let the conversation begin!

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Disclaimer: Tania was hosted by Turkey Tourism Board. All thoughts and opinions expressed in the post are of her own.

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