editorial

Words by Lisa Morrow October 18, 2024
A centuries-old Turkish bathhouse has been given a new lease on life.
<figure id="attachment_139693" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-139693" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-139693 size-full" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Zeyrek-Çinili-Hamam-1.jpg" alt="The men’s hot room in the historic hammam; New York–based Turkish artist Elif Uras’s Sitting Bather, a site-specific marble sculpture in the women’s hot room. (All photos courtesy of Künye Bilgileri)" width="1200" height="800" srcset="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Zeyrek-Çinili-Hamam-1.jpg 1200w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Zeyrek-Çinili-Hamam-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Zeyrek-Çinili-Hamam-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Zeyrek-Çinili-Hamam-1-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-139693" class="wp-caption-text">Left to right: The men’s hot room in the historic hammam; New York–based Turkish artist Elif Uras’s Sitting Bather, a site-specific marble sculpture in the women’s hot room. (All photos courtesy of Künye Bilgileri)</figcaption></figure>
Five centuries of Turkish history permeate the solid stone walls of <a href="https://zeyrekcinilihamam.com/en?destinasian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zeyrek Çinili Hamam</a>, a public Turkish bathhouse originally commissioned in the 16th century by the Ottoman corsair turned admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa. Set atop Byzantine-era cisterns in Istanbul’s Fatih district, the building reopened earlier this year following 13 years of painstaking restoration work that have returned it to its former glory.
The hammam, designed by the great court architect Mimar Sinan, was in a serious state of disrepair when local hospitality company The Marmara Group acquired it in 2010. What began as a three-year repair job was prolonged by myriad archaeological discoveries and subsequent preservation efforts, with each stage of the restoration revealing new treasures. Many of those finds are now displayed in an adjacent museum, including fragments of the original blue-and-white Iznik tiles that once lined the bathhouse walls.
But visitors can expect more than a history lesson. <a href="https://zeyrekcinilihamam.com/en?destinasian">Zeyrek Çinili</a> is once again a functioning hammam, the star-shaped apertures in its domes casting dappled light across beautiful bathing spaces accented by hand-carved honeycomb niches (muqarnas). And there are contemporary touches aplenty, from the sleek Scandi tones of the lounging platforms to the updated versions of nalin (clogs) and pestemal towels by designer Hussein Chalayan. The Turkish bath has never been so beguiling.
<figure id="attachment_139690" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-139690" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-139690 size-full" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Zeyrek-Çinili-Hamam.jpg" alt="French artist Maude Maris’s 2016 painting &lt;em&gt;Antique&lt;/em&gt; is on display as part of the “Healing Ruins” exhibition." width="1200" height="800" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-139690" class="wp-caption-text">French artist Maude Maris’s 2016 painting Antique is on display as part of the “Healing Ruins” exhibition.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_139688" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-139688" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-139688 size-full" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Zeyrek-Çinili-Hamam-2.jpg" alt="Inside the Zeyrek Cinili Hamam Museum." width="1200" height="800" srcset="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Zeyrek-Çinili-Hamam-2.jpg 1200w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Zeyrek-Çinili-Hamam-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Zeyrek-Çinili-Hamam-2-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Zeyrek-Çinili-Hamam-2-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-139688" class="wp-caption-text">Inside the Zeyrek Çinili Hamam Museum.</figcaption></figure>
This article originally appeared in the <a href="https://subscription.destinasian.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">October/November 2024</a> print issue of DestinAsian magazine (“Bathing Beauty”).

Turkish Bathhouse. French artist Maude Maris’s 2016 painting Antique is on display as part of the “Healing Ruins” exhibition.

This Restored Hammam is Istanbul’s Latest Gem