Discover the 500-year-old hamam that brings Istanbul’s past to life

Closed to the public for over a decade, the stunning Zeyrek Çinili Hamam has just reopened its wooden doors to the world. Located in Istanbul’s Zeyrek neighborhood – on the European side of the Bosphorus, adjacent to the historic Fatih district – the bathhouse was built in the 1530s by Mimar Sinan, the chief architect of illustrious Ottoman sultans such as Suleiman the Magnificent.

“Çinili” means “tile” in Turkish, highlighting the hamam’s most prominent interior design feature; the bathroom was once covered with thousands of bright blue Iznik tiles.

Open for five centuries, serving the public primarily as a hamam but briefly as a saddlery and storeroom in the late 1700s, the hamam was quite dilapidated when it closed in 2010. The walls were covered in mold and the Iznik tiles were fading.

The hamam temporarily reopened in 2022 for the Istanbul Biennale and is now about to get a new lease of life.

After being closed for 13 years, Çinili Hamam will reopen on September 30: first as an exhibition venue; then, from March 2024, it will once again become a public bathroom, with segregated sections for men and women.

In addition to receiving a complete renovation, the hamam will also gain a contemporary art space under the arches of the Byzantine cistern that once filled its brass taps with water, a new museum that brings together the history of the building and an urban garden filled with laurels. It is the second major historic restoration project by real estate developer The Marmara Group, which purchased the building in 2010.

Unearthing the past

“When we bought the hamam, we didn’t know any of the stories behind it. But in Zeyrek, wherever you look, you find something,” says Koza Yazgan, creative director of the project.

“In the men’s section we found these rectangular tiles, different from the [habituais] hexagonal. They were on the wall and had a Farsi poem [com versos diferentes em cada azulejo]. We translated and researched them and discovered that they were placed elsewhere at some point – they were not where Sinan originally placed them.”

When the hamam was built, the walls were covered with around 10,000 tiles, but only a few remain. Some were lost, others stolen, and some were damaged by fires and earthquakes.

The tiles were even sold to foreign museums in the late 19th century – the Marmara Group traced many to private collections and distant museums, including London’s V&A. A team of archaeologists and hamam historians helped these institutions identify exactly where their Iznik tiles came from.

As for the mysterious Farsi tiles, Yazgan continues: “We decided not to leave them where we found them, but to display them in the museum.”

Designed by German firm Atelier Brüeckner – whose previous projects include the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo and the Louvre in Abu Dhabi – the Çinili Hamam museum will display some of the many Roman, Ottoman and Byzantine artefacts found during the restoration, from coins to graffiti unusual for foreign ships.

Visitors can also peruse a variety of eclectic objects worn by former hamam patrons, including shiny mother-of-pearl clogs called nalin.

Naturally, an entire floor of the museum will be dedicated to the hamam’s incredible Iznik tiles – the pièce de résistance is a futuristic augmented reality exhibition that transports you to the bathhouse as it looked in Mimar Sinan’s time, digitally overlaying the white walls in all its turquoise tiled glory.

This is an impressive attempt to rebuild something that is already gone, but Yazgan felt it was necessary. “Considering how the city has changed in the last 20 years, I think it is more important than ever to protect these historic sites. Otherwise, everyone will be lost,” she says.

Beautiful inside and out

Although its tiered wooden houses initially emerged around the wealthy 12th-century Pantokrator Monastery – today the Zeyrek Mosque – Zeyrek is today a distinctly working-class neighborhood.

Life centers on the spice and meat markets that line the streets, while the fruity aroma of homemade pilavı (a dish of chicken, grapes and rice from a less affluent region of eastern Turkey) emanates from the restaurants.

Although it is part of the Unesco-listed area of ​​Istanbul, Zeyrek looks nothing like the neighboring Ayasofya neighborhood, where the Hagia Sofia, Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace are located. Here, foreign tourists are a rarity.

Zeyrek’s streets produce a lot of noise and the 278.7 square meter hamam offers a peaceful retreat.

A kem göz (evil eye) hangs over the front door, ensuring that any ill-intentioned spirits stay out. Exactly as it would have been 500 years ago, the oak door is heavy and thick – but because it’s so new, it still has that sawmill smell.

Once over the threshold, the visitor walks through a series of three rooms, a process typical of all Turkish baths. The first is the “cold” (or, more accurately, room temperature) room, the camekan, where guests are invited to undress and relax. Reclining on sofas, admiring the architecture and sipping hot Turkish tea or coffee are all encouraged.

Next comes the hot room – a dry living area where the body acclimatizes to temperatures of around 30 degrees Celsius. The last room is the steaming hararet, heated to 50 degrees Celsius and containing a flat slab of marble.

“You lie on the göbek taşı – the ‘belly stone’ – and relax,” says Yazgan. “It’s a space of cleansing, both spiritually and physically… a time to escape from earthly things.” There, attendants dressed in robes wash and massage their clients in a supine position.

Ottoman know-how and seamless minimalism come together inside Çinili Hamam to create the ultimate outdoor zone space. Scandinavian-style wooden cabinets, lockers and door latches keep modern facilities from looking too clinical.

The glass stars in the vaulted ceilings (a signature of Ottoman hamam design) let in enough natural light, but not so much that it’s blinding. Original Ottoman details are displayed to stimulate the mind – sections of the original brickwork, the structural reinforcements of Sinan and the kaleidoscopic tiles of Iznik – but never disturb the atmosphere of tranquility.

Returning to life

Initially, while the hamam’s bathrooms are still dry, Çinili Hamam will host a unique contemporary art exhibition featuring specially commissioned works dedicated to themes of ruin, history and healing, three words that sum up the place.

After the exhibition closes in March 2024, the baths will be pumped with water and returned to their original function. Yazgan says the Zeyrek Çinili Hamam will closely replicate ancient Ottoman bath time traditions.

Instead of Swedish massages and scented oils, there will be warm, steamy rooms, joint-cracking chiropractic treatments and bubble-based massages in which clouds of foam are rubbed into the skin.

However, Yazgan highlights a 21st-century distinction that sets Çinili apart from Turkey’s super-traditional hamams.

“Normally in hamams the design of the men’s section is taller and more elaborate. They have more muqarnas (decorated vaulted ceilings) and tiles. But we will have rotating days for each section [de gênero]so that everyone can enjoy each side.”

“A microcosm of Istanbul”

Seeing now the empty, immaculate chambers of the hamam, it is difficult to imagine it full of people. Entering the garden, where only a thin layer of bushes masks the raw goat legs exposed in the butchers, it also feels a little out of place with its surroundings.

But the Marmara Group believes that the newly restored hamam could completely change the dynamics of the neighborhood, using its undervalued historical sites to transform Zeyrek into a destination for cultural tourism.

“Even local shopkeepers ask, ‘Should I sell soaps or peshtemals [toalhas otomanas tradicionais]?’ We’re even thinking about making a ‘Zeyrek map’ showing where hamam guests can visit other attractions in the area or eat in a historic space,” says Yazgan.

There’s plenty to do: in addition to the Zeyrek Mosque, the monumental Roman Aqueduct of Valens and the baroque Süleymaniye Mosque (Mimar Sinan’s masterpiece) are a 15-minute walk away.

While an increase in visitor numbers could put the neighborhood at risk of gentrification, the hamam has the potential to join Istanbul’s growing portfolio of interesting cultural sites: a place where one can delve into Istanbul’s cosmopolitan past by taking part in a ancient ritual.

“With the museum, the relaxation element and the historical layers, [o hamam] it’s like a microcosm of Istanbul,” says Yazgan.

It will certainly be the only place in the city where you can learn something new, have an augmented reality experience, drink a cup of coffee, take off your clothes in public – and still feel relaxed when you leave.