A Study on Historic Hamams in Istanbul
Changing Aspects of Cultural Use and Architecture
Master Thesis for World Heritage Studies
Kristina Smolijaninovaitė
2124348
Supervised by
Prof. Dr. phil. habil. Marie-Theres Albert
(Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus)
Dr. Zeynep Kuban
(Istanbul Technical University)
I hereby declare that the work herein now submitted as thesis for the degree of a Master of
Arts in World Heritage Studies at the Brandenburg University of Cottbus is the result of my
own investigations and all references to ideas and work of other researches have been
specifically acknowledged.
I hereby certify that the work embodied in this thesis has not already been accepted in
substance for any degree and is not being currently submitted in candidature for any other
degree.
Cottbus, 25 January 2007
Kristina Smolijaninovaitė
Figure on cover: Çemberlitaş hamam, Istanbul. Ground plan. Source: Glück 1921
Content
1 Introduction: the Turkish Bath as an Element of Culture......................................................5
1.1 Significance of Baths Throughout History ....................................................................11
1.1.1 Greek Baths (500 – 31 BC) ...................................................................................11
1.1.2 Roman Baths (31 BC – 476 AD) ...........................................................................14
1.1.3 Byzantine Baths (476 – 1453 AD) .........................................................................16
1.2 Significance of Turkish Bath Culture During the Ottoman Classical Period .................19
1.2.1 Turkish Baths: a Continuation of the Roman Bath and the Islamic Traditions .....20
1.2.2 Ottoman Architecture and Turkish Baths...............................................................22
1.2.3 Turkish Baths as an Islamic Social Space.............................................................25
2 Changes in Hamam Within the Course of History...............................................................29
2.1 The Tanzimat Reforms (1839-1876) and Hamams: Dualism of Istanbul and the First
Contacts with Europe .........................................................................................................29
2.2 The Republican Period (1923-Present) and Hamams: Modernisation of Turkey and
Building a New Nation State...............................................................................................38
3 Significance of Tourism and Hamams.................................................................................44
3.1 Travellers and the Orient: Representation of Turkish Baths through the First Travellers’
Accounts (17th-19th Centuries)..........................................................................................44
3.2 Tourism and Tourism Role in Turkey and Istanbul.......................................................49
3.2.1 What is Tourism: a Theoretical Approach ............................................................49
3.2.2 Tourism in Turkey and Istanbul .............................................................................52
4 Sustainable Tourism and Hamams .....................................................................................62
4.1 Concepts of Sustainable Tourism ................................................................................62
4.2 The Examples of Current Models of Hamam Tourism and Hamam Conservation.......68
4.2.1 Istanbul ..................................................................................................................68
4.2.1.1 Historic Hamams Used as Baths ....................................................................68
4.2.1.2 Hotel Hamams................................................................................................71
1
4.2.1.3 Re-use of Hamams.........................................................................................72
4.2.2 Budapest ...............................................................................................................74
4.2.3 Berlin .....................................................................................................................76
4.3 Conclusions on Further Transformation of Hamams in Istanbul ..................................80
4.3.1 Hamams in Modern World for Turkish People.......................................................80
4.3.2 Historic Hamams as Wellness Sites for Tourists...................................................82
5 Appendices .........................................................................................................................87
5.1 Glossary .......................................................................................................................87
5.2 Figures .........................................................................................................................90
5.2.1 List of Figures ........................................................................................................90
5.2.3 References of Figures .........................................................................................108
2
Preamble
The objective of this Master Thesis is to investigate cultural dynamics and acculturation of
Turkish baths (hamam) and their continuous adaptation to new modes of life. The thesis is
divided into five parts.
The first part will start with an introduction as to why the hamam in Turkey and Istanbul is an
element of culture. Different social and cultural theories will be applied to the understanding
of the concept of ‘culture’. The subsequent chapter of this part will explain the significance of
public baths throughout history namely Greek, Roman and Byzantine times. The following
chapter, the Ottoman period and hamams, will finish the long line in history in terms of bath
and bathing culture. Hence in the first part of the thesis literature on history will be studied.
The second part of the research looks at the first source of factors that accelerated the
changing spirit of Turkish hamams. Therefore, internal cultural changes of Turkey during the
19th-21st centuries will be studied. This period is chosen because the changes in society and
in material culture and architecture can be observed best in comparison to the Ottoman classical period of the 16th century. From 19th to 21st centuries Europe has been taken as a
model and thus such new concepts as westernisation and modernisation have been introduced in the Ottoman Empire.
The third part of the thesis studies, tourism, which is the second source of factors that foster
a changing character of hamams in Istanbul. Tourism has an ambivalent role: it serves as a
medium to keep hamam culture alive and on the other hand is diminishing immaterial tradition of bathing. Both aspects crystallize the complex web of acculturation and cultural dynamics.
The fourth section will look at the concept of sustainable tourism and the current example of
hamam in Istanbul, Budapest and Berlin. Additionally, some practical recommendations of
what could be safeguarded in the hamams and what could be compromised for practical reasons giving attention to the continuous changes and new necessities of the present time will
be proposed.
The “Appendices” will explain in a glossary the meaning of foreign words that were used in
this thesis as well as include figures that will allow the reader to visualise the objects relevant
to the studies of this thesis.
3
The hypothesis of this Master Thesis is that strategic methods for sustainable tourism and
conservation based on cultural significance of hamams are needed for the conservation of
hamams in Turkey.
In order to gather scientific material and to gain empirical knowledge about the hamam subject, the author made a three-week investigation trip to Istanbul in December 2004. During
this time, major libraries at the universities, institutes and other public places alike were visited. Additionally, interviews at the major hamams in Istanbul were undertaken. Despite all
the valuable literature gathered in Istanbul and later in Germany, the lack of academic books
on the topic of hamam culture in Istanbul posed a challenge.
In short, this is a study of how a changing spirit of hamam culture in Istanbul, as can be observed both materially and immaterially, tries to adapt to the new demands of the present
generation. Quite often the past and present collide since culture whether as monuments or
something intangible can change due to the course of history. Therefore the purpose of this
research is twofold: first to show transformations of hamam culture, which happened within
time in history and second to indicate that the strategic methods to conserve the Turkish
hamams based on their cultural significance, are necessary. The methods will be suggested
in the final chapter of the thesis.
4
1 Introduction: the Turkish Bath as an Element of Culture
The Turkish bath, through the eyes of the foreign tourists, may be imagined as a site of exotic and erotic culture according to their fancy. But in Turkey, they have their own specific
cultural significance. The first aspect is religious. Islam played an important role in the Ottoman Empire and eventually became an integral part of Ottoman culture. Muslims due to their
religion are required to be clean in body and soul, therefore a total ablution gusül had to be
observed. This was probably a significant reason why Turks were quick to overtake the prototype of baths from Romans and made them a part of külliye 1 , an Islamic building complex,
which comprised schools, charitable kitchens and mosques. (see also chapter 1.2.1 on
Turkish baths as a continuation of Roman baths and Islamic traditions) The Islamic religion
also demanded that certain rules would be kept in terms of communication that at the same
time determined the status of Ottoman women and men in society. For instance, women had
a kind of “invisible” place in public thus while building a double hamam often one would find
entrance for women at the back of the building to keep women inconspicuous in public. If the
hamam is a single, the opening hours for Ottoman women would be designated during the
day time, which showed that it was not appropriate for them to be out of home late in the
evenings. These are merely a few examples of how religion can be a part of culture and induce certain codes of behaviour in society, which can be also exemplified in hamam use and
architecture.
At the same time, hamams in Istanbul as monuments have some symbolic readings. In appearance the baths, built of stones, were noticeable among wooden residences of the entire
neighbourhood and furthermore “…the hamams in their monumentality constituted an emblem of sultanic rule both for the population and for visiting foreigners, adding a political dimension to their functions.” (Cichocki 2005: pp99-100) 2 In some cases hamam’s grandeur
was meant to show generosity of sultan’s family (Ibid.), thus a bath was not a physical
monument only, but something which at the same time indicated some symbolic interpretations within the Ottoman society.
The monumentality of Ottoman Istanbul and its classical architecture is associated with a
great architect Sinan (1490-1580) who worked especially during a lengthy reign of Süleyman
(1520-1566) as well as for other members of the royal family. Some scholars affirm that the
works of Sinan communicate a unique style of classical Ottoman architecture. However,
1
2
See glossary for explanation of terms.
However, it should be remembered that there are also a large number of non-Sultan hamams in Istanbul and therefore this symbolism cannot be applied in every situation.
5
while examining Selimiye of Sinan, a Turkish architectural historian Doğan Kuban asserts
that one can truly understand and appreciate Sinan’s works when “a true comprehension of
the Ottoman Turkish cultural component” is also identified. (Kuban 1997: p212) Mostly it is
not easy to properly understand the classical Ottoman architecture if one refers only to western standards and a vocabulary without, for instance, a good knowledge of Ottoman historic
background, architectural influences from other regions, Islamic culture and other elements
like which architects Sinan was closest to. Therefore when talking about cultural significance
as understood by UNESCO in relation to the Turkish bath, not just the material but also the
immaterial aspect of culture should be emphasized. These make a coherent unit in applying
the definition of culture to the issue of hamam and therefore cannot be separated from each
other.
There are many concepts, understandings and interpretations of the term ‘culture’. They
were constructed through the development of the world’s social and political studies more or
less during the last three centuries. Just to mention a scrupulous work by Kroeber and
Kluckhohn, Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions, more than 200 hundred
definitions of culture were gathered in their book, which is certainly impressive. (Kroeber and
Kluckhohn 1952) Yet it is far beyond the scope of this thesis to discuss all the theories and
definitions of culture, hence only certain approaches are chosen that best explain the complex term, which can be later applied in this thesis. Additionally, the UNESCO concepts of
culture will be discussed in this chapter together with some reasons that fostered UNESCO
to develop and extend this definition. Thus it will show the complexity of this term that is in
fact the ‘product of history’ (Leiris 1951: p8) that reflects political, socio-cultural and economic
situation of the world in a certain span of time. Finally, theoretical background and UNESCO
understanding of culture will be used and applied to hamams in Istanbul and Turkey.
One of the most comprehensive concepts of culture is explained in Frank Robert Vivelo’s
handbook on Cultural Anthropology (1978). Culture is defined as “…‘that complex whole
which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and
habits acquired by man as a member of society’ (Tylor 1871:1).” (Vivelo 1978: p16) Culture
is understood as a totality that relates and links different elements of a particular society into
one big picture. It is also implied that cultures can be generalised and explained scientifically.
Further to such a definition of culture, is a rejection of cultural superiority based on race.
French ethnologist Michele Leiris in the article Race and Culture (1951) emphasised cultural
variety that was often undermined by ‘economic and political’ (Leiris 1951: p8) criteria while
6
evaluating development of society and culture. Instead Leiris highlights a great variety of
cultural expressions and traditions, different experiences, which are based on historical past
of society. Thus he examines cultures as a totality of expressions of life that can be transmissible to the following generation through language. Hence culture is ‘storable’ and can be
learned. (Leiris 1951: p20) In this case traditions in a broad sense provide a base for orientation that each individual can acquire by learning values and norms, techniques and models
for behaviour and other systems of rules. Yet Leiris thinks that despite the basic rules for
cultural behaviour each individual applies in one’s own way. (Ibid. p21) This stresses the
complexity of one’s behaviour, which is determined not only by cultural rules but also influenced by one’s individual knowledge and experience.
Finally what further crystallises the concept of culture in relation to hamam culture in Turkey,
is that culture is dynamic and has an ability to adapt, assimilate and undergo other changes
“sometimes of such scope or speed as to appear revolutionary.” (p21) This of course suggests that culture cannot be viable in isolation but is instead creative through the contacts
with other societies. Turkish hamams are an example of how cultural use of this institution
gradually adapts to new conditions and time.
This thesis will deal with two agents of
changes in hamam culture: internal cultural transformation and tourism.
If one follows the modification of term ‘culture’ by UNESCO since its foundation in 1945, it
becomes evident that this concept is connected with an intricate web of political and economic issues and furthermore it shows that the UNESCO approach on the concept of ‘culture’ was more eurocentric initially.
After World War II there was a social need to establish an organization that would promote
peace, human rights, international collaboration and education. The philosophy of UNESCO
was primarily based on the universal humanitarian principles. (Albert 2002: p19) However
during the 1950s the decolonisation movement was on the way in Africa and Asia. The new
context of events in history demanded new ideas to orientate UNESCO’s vision of culture
that would reflect freedom gained after a long time of colonisation.
It was Claude Lévi-Strauss who in his revolutionary article on Race and History (1958) influenced and expanded UNESCO’s viewpoint on the future concept of culture. Lévi-Strauss
rejects hierarchies and cultural evolutionism that are based on race principle. In the same
manner, he highlights that all cultures are equal and can contribute greatly to other human
cultures with their special creativity and originality that can be developing only in relationship
and collaboration with other societies. (Lévi-Strauss 1958: p38; p46) Furthermore LéviStrauss criticised and challenged cultural hegemony of the West that somewhat mixed economic development and cultural development making productive resources as a universal
7
criterion. In short, all societies have their own way of development thus the idea of cultural
relativism manifested, which made a profound input to view culture more extensively.
It was an essential change that paved the way for UNESCO to declare the „Convention concerning the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage“ in 1972. Yet discrimination
of the strong economic countries against economically and technologically underdeveloped
countries was still prevailing. The fact was there were some countries that “won political independence, but it was not possible to end their economic and technological dependency.”
(Albert 2002: p22) It points out that culture was still understood through rather eurocentric
concepts based on European criteria.
The still implicit discrimination and racism and also an overwhelming time of rapid globalisation prompted UNESCO to hold Mexico conference in 1982. The document declares that, “in
its widest sense, culture may now be said to be the whole complex of distinctive spiritual,
material, intellectual and emotional features that characterize a society or social group. It
includes not only the arts and letters, but also modes of life, the fundamental rights of the
human being, value systems, traditions and beliefs.” 3 The declaration of Mexico aimed at
protection of immaterial heritage of mankind, therefore the notion of culture was modified,
which back in 1972 was defined as monumental only. That the integration of immaterial part
of culture is crucial is shown in the recent convention of UNESCO in Paris, 2003, which reassured the importance of immaterial culture as a primary source for cultural diversity.
Hence for UNESCO, the material and immaterial aspects of cultures are increasingly perceived as a coherent whole.
Yet there are still many efforts required in order to establish equality and refute prevailing
‘inferiority’ and ‘superiority’ concepts, which are based on economic development criterion.
The idea of ‘global strategy’, for instance, towards a more balanced world heritage list initiated by UNESCO in 1994 is an indication that the world heritage list has been rather eurocentric and calls for appropriate actions despite many efforts already done by UNESCO.
Just taking into example recent inscription of Regensburg in Germany into UNESCO list in
June 2006, in a country, which is abundant with historic medieval towns and significant centres that trace history of the Holy Roman Empire in Europe, brings back the discussion about
more equal distribution of the sites. Developing countries that have scarce economic resources and other technical problems should be supported to write applications for nomination of their sites as the beginning step in order to represent cultural diversity in the world's
cultural heritage.
3
See http://www.unesco.org/culture/laws/mexico/html_eng/page1.shtml
8
Hamams in Istanbul is an example of how culture, immaterial and material, can unite separate cultural sub-systems into a coherent unit. For instance, Ottoman baths were a significant platform for its social context, especially for Ottoman women, in its religious level, as a
place to perform the full-body ablution, gusül, and hamam was also a space to practice certain traditions, which would testify events of a Muslim life cycle and many other social events
as will be discussed later. (see chapter 1.2.3) This institution is a significant element of Turkish culture. 4 In short, historic hamams in Istanbul form an example of Ottoman-Islamic element of culture from architectural and social point of views. Furthermore, the cultural significance and functions of hamam in Turkey are complex and dynamic. We need to point this
out when talking about culture of Turkish baths.
The following part will show the development of baths within history. Three bath cultures
from the three historic periods will be studied, namely Greek, Roman and Byzantine. This
will lead to the subsequent part that will highlight the significance of Turkish bath culture during Ottoman classical period.
REFERENCES
Albert, M.T., UNESCO Conventions – Historical Contexts and References, in Nature and
Culture: Ambivalent Dimension of our Heritage Change of Perspective, p19-23, Cottbus:
Druckzone 2002
Cichocki, N., Continuity and Change in Turkish Bathing Culture in Istanbul: The Life Story of
the Çemberlitaş Hamam, Turkish Studies, Vol.6/No.1 2005, 93-143
Kroeber, A.L., Culture: a Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions, Massachusetts: Cambridge 1952
Kuban, D., Sinan’s Art and Selimiye, Istanbul: Numune Matbacicilik 1997
Leiris, M., Race and Culture, Paris: UNESCO 1951
4
According to the Burra Charter, the term ‘cultural significance’ is synonymous to heritage significance
and cultural value. (see an explanatory note for the Article 1.2 on ‘cultural significance’) Thus following the Burra Charter, hamams are cultural heritage of Turkey.
9
Lévi-Strauss, C., Race and History, Paris: UNESCO 1958
UNESCO, Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, Paris, 17 October 2003
Vivelo, F. R., Cultural Anthropology Handbook: A Basic Introduction, USA: McGraw-Hill
Book Company 1978
UNESCO,
Mexico
City
Declaration
on
Cultural
Policies,
in
http://www.unesco.org/culture/laws/mexico/html_eng/page1.shtml, site visited in September
1, 2005
Australia ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites), Burra Charter, in
http://www.icomos.org/australia/burra.html, site visited in March 17, 2006
10
1.1 Significance of Baths Throughout History
Bathing in buildings and closed places was known relatively early, way back in the Middle
East and Egypt in before the Ancient Greek period. Nevertheless the tracing of the historical
development of baths will start with the Ancient Greek baths since their traditions influenced
a bathing culture of the Roman times and the Roman baths in addition to Islamic traditions
became a model for the development of Ottoman hamams.
1.1.1 Greek Baths (500 – 31 BC)
This section will cover a huge span of time: the Ancient Greek period, Roman and Byzantine
Empires before proceeding to the Ottoman Empire as the last point in this historical line. 5 It
aims at showing different developments of bathing cultures and especially with regards to
Ottoman hamams it will seek to specify particular meanings and cultural expression of Turkish baths both in its physical and immaterial forms.
The Ancient Greek times existed already a long time before 500 BC. However two periods
are analysed in this chapter since the first forms of the communal baths and bathing appeared roughly in the 5th or early 4th centuries BC. This time of history is commonly divided
into two periods: classical period (500 – 323 BC) and Hellenistic that started after the conquests and death of Alexander the Great (323 – 31 BC). There were two main bathing establishments in Ancient Greece namely gymnasium baths that were designated exclusively
for male athletes after performing exercises and balaneia, an independent architectural unit
used for secular purposes. 6 Sometimes sanctuary baths devoted for ritual ceremonies are
referred to as the third type yet they will not be analysed since only the first two bathing establishments are relevant in order to show development of communal baths that started during the Ancient Greek times.
The first type of baths that is found in gymnasium was an important social centre for male
citizens of Greece. (see Fig. 1) It was a large institution initially devoted to various physical
exercises that later gradually expanded its facilities also to intellectual and educational functions. Thus, for instance, libraries and rooms for public lectures noticeably increased in num5
6
The baths during the Ottoman Empire will be studied in chapter 1.2.
Yet, the understanding of “communal” bathing in gymnasium is rather limited in this context since
only the athletes could use it. Nevertheless, the washing facilities in gymnasium are indicated due to
the development of practice of washing that preceded physical exercises. This practice is incorporated into and further continued in the Roman thermae.
11
ber especially in the middle of the 4th century BC and eventually gymnasiums became more
focused on mental education rather than athletic. This changing philosophy of education
subsequently brought fusion of two different bathing entities, i.e. balaneia and gymnasium
baths, in terms of terminology and architecture. After the renovation of gymnasiums, for instance, the same building could be confusingly called either balaneia or gymnasium. Yegül
suggests that this fusion happened due to several reasons: the decline of the athletic use of
gymnasiums and the rising popularity of hot baths 7 . (see Yegül 1992: p23)
The only known element attached to bathing and washing in gymnasium is loutron, a coldwater washing room, which was also regarded “morally superior” to heated baths. (see
Yegül 1992: p17; Farrington 1999: p58) Loutron appeared roughly in the late 5th or early 4th
century BC, which indicates the initiation, as Yegül suggests, of one of the first forms of
communal bathing due to its social and architectural context. (see Yegül 1992: pp17-21)
They were usually located in one of the corners of palaestra (see Fig. 2) and could be exclusively used by the athletes or the visitors of the gymnasium. All in all, bathing was associated with cleanliness of body and spirit, therefore it soon became an important component of
daily gymnasium programmes, which kept an important balance between physical and intellectual elements.
The second type of bathing establishment in Ancient Greece, balaneia, in urban centres
started to exist from the 5th century BC around the time when baths (loutron) were introduced
in the gymnasiums.
One of the remarked characteristics of Greek balaneia planning is that they were marked
with ‘simplicity and functionalism’. (see Yegül 1992: p24) They were rectangular or irregular
shaped units attached around a tholos, which is an important architectural element employed
in Greek baths 8 . Furthermore, these baths were small and with no defined order of use or
principle of temperature gradation of each room. Yet some Greek balaneia could have a
simple version of a hypocaust 9 system, which can be found, for instance, in Gortys, Arcadia
or in Olympia, Greece. (see Lawrence 1983: p350; Yegül 2002: p3). At the same time,
some Greek baths could be heated by steam produced by braziers or by hot water. Primarily, the circular rooms were reserved for hot bathing.
7
Despite this changing function of gymnasiums, an Ancient Greek gymnasium could not be complete
without palaestra (a wrestling yard) that was “a fairly elaborated building, planned like a very large
house or hostel.” (Lawrence 1983: p349) However, palaestra itself could be built as an independent
entity.
8
Tholos is a circular structure or any round shape of a building. It was the distinguishing Greek architectural element, which was employed not only in baths but also in other Ancient Greek public buildings like temples, the most famous example one can find in Delphi.
9
Hypocaust is a floor heating system, literally means “heat from below”.
12
The ground plan of Gortys in Arcadia shows a typical architectural example of balaneia in
Ancient Greece. (Fig. 3) (see Yegül 1992: p26) In the plan one sees rectangular units, which
are clustered around two large tholos (see “C” and “G” in Fig. 3). The structures around
tholos are devoted to secondary use like undressing room and entrances and service like
furnace and boilers. A third tholos (see “E” in Fig. 3) could have been a dry room. (see
Yegül 1992: p26), which is enclosed like other circular and rectangular units into a square
structure.
Another significant characteristic of Ancient Greek baths is the presence of individual tubes
or so called “hip baths” that could be located in a tholos or a rectangular room arranged side
by side along the wall. (see Yegül 1992: p24) “Hip baths” were usually veiled on the sides in
order a bather could protect oneself from the splash with water from the neighbour. (see Fig.
4 and Fig. 5) These individual niches were “carved in the rock or built up of brick or mortar”
(Ibid., p25). It indicates that Greeks tried to make use of the natural rock by hollowing it out.
Two types of bathing structures, one in gymnasium and the other an independent unit
balaneia, indicate the first known formation of communal bathing in the Classical world. As a
social centre the gymnasium was more important than the balaneia, therefore the gymnasium baths spread especially fast to other conquered colonies during Hellenistic time since
gymnasiums were a focal point of every newly founded settlement and city. Although Yegül
indicates that gymnasium baths were “one of the earliest form of communal bathing” (see
Yegül 1992: p7), only the male athletes could use them, therefore “community” was rather
limited to the privileged contingent of people. On the other hand, people who were nonathletes used balaneia for bathing.
No physical exercises were connected to Greek
balaneia, therefore it might indicate that Greeks bathed in balaneia for hygienic reasons
rather than social since individual bathing manner was promoted in Greek baths without
communal exercises before, which induced socialising among people.
Finally, Ancient Greek bathing traditions influenced a bathing development of the Roman
times. As Nielsen argues, the Roman baths were inspired by Greek balaneia as well as by
the Greek palaestra “which were transformed by the invention of concrete and of the developed hypocaust system into one, or rather two, new building types: the balnea and thermae.” (see Nielsen 1999: p35) The following chapter aims at studying a development of
Roman baths.
13
1.1.2 Roman Baths (31 BC – 476 AD)
Augustus is known for restoring the Republic of Rome, which was marked by political crisis
and dictatorship during the preceding centuries. He turned the Roman State into the Roman
Empire in 31 BC that eventually dominated Western Eurasia. The rule of the Roman Empire
underwent economic chaos and political upheavals, autocracy and civil wars that led to the
division of the Empire into two halves, the West and the East. The latter is known as the
Byzantine Empire. West Rome eventually disappeared in 476 AD. During this long reign
public baths became an indispensable part of Roman life for the maintenance of health and
for social reasons. At the same time, public baths retained many symbolic meanings and
readings that provide an interesting view on Roman civilization, which will be outlined below.
Before proceeding to explain the bathing culture in the Roman Empire, two bathing establishments in ancient Rome should be explained: balnea and thermae. The terminology is
rather confusing, however it is mostly agreed that the main differences underlined are in
terms of ownership and scale. (see Meiggs 1973: p416; Yegül 1992: p43) Balnea is small
and privately owned; thermae, on the other hand, is an exceptionally large public bathing
complex. Nielsen (see p35) adds to that that balnea had only bathing function and thermae
contained at least a sport section, which was inspired by the Greek palaestra. Fagan also
mentions that the first bathing establishment was relatively unadorned, but thermae were
famous for their luxury and decorations. (see Fagan 1999: p14-15) For clarification of terminology the next paragraph will look at the thermae.
Thermae is a huge complex of buildings with lecture halls, libraries, pools, art galleries and
many other practical facilities comprising such a grand scale that a few thousand people
could take a bath at one time, a grandiosity that no other culture could ever match. The
scale of the bath was described and compared by some scholars as “a city within a city” or
“microcosm” within the Roman Empire. (Zajac 1999: p103) Romans also made some technical improvements and innovation in thermae. They advanced a hypocaust heating system
and introduced a system of the baths, which was based on a gradation of rooms according to
temperature. This system was unique.
Baths of the Roman times can be read as symbols, which give a deeper insight into the social and political life of the Empire. In particular DeLaine and Zajac emphasise that huge and
luxurious baths were a manifestation of omnipotent power of the emperors and Rome. (see
DeLaine 1999: pp12-13) It was an indication of their supremacy, which was made concrete
by means of architecture. (see Zajac 1999: p105) Furthermore, through advancement of
14
technology Romans symbolically and literally manifested power over and even wanted to
tame nature, especially water, which is a wild and unpredictable resource (see Fagan 1999:
p122; Zajac 1999: p101) In short, Ancient Roman baths symbolised physical and political
greatness of the Empire as well as power and superiority over nature.
In addition, bathing for Romans was one of the means of Romanization that distinguished the
civilized from the barbarian. (see DeLaine 1999: p13, Nielsen 1999: p35) This hypothesis
also emphasised the “cult of body” during the Ancient Roman times. Therefore, a great care
was performed over one’s physical body and health that eventually defined one’s status of
being a citizen of Rome.
To gain an insight into what the thermae is in terms of its physical appearance, the public
bath of Caracalla (Fig. 6, Fig. 7, Fig. 8) will be analysed. It is the second largest Roman bath
complex ever built, which accommodated 1,600 bathers at a time and occupied an area of
about 120,000 square meters. (see Yegül 1992: p146) Though huge in scale, the Thermae
of Caracalla represented a simplicity in planning and often, together with another grandscaled Thermae of Diocletian, appears to be “...a textbook example of the fully developed
large imperial type in Rome.” (Ibid.)
If one is to simplify a plan of the Thermae of Caracalla (Fig. 9), one can see the circle of the
caldarium situated on the South, which represented the centre of two symmetrical parts of
the building. The plan of thermae shows that longitudinally the bath is divided into five parts.
The central part caldarium (hot room), tepidarium (intermediate room), frigidarium (cold
room), natatio (a cold pool) and the end part palaestra are the main functional parts. The
service and dressing rooms are located between the functional parts of the baths. The palaestra could be entered through the hot rooms on the south side and through the entrance
halls on the north.
Fig. 10 depicts one of the possible programmes for a bather to follow, but one could also
choose the other bathing route based on individual preferences and wishes.
The main
rooms in a thermae are apodyterium, caldarium, tepidarium and frigidarium, which can be
also treated as a common sequence to be followed by a bather. Usually people would come
to baths after doing exercises in palaestra; they would go to the changing room (apodyterium) and then head towards the hottest area of the bath (caldarium), taking a route through
an intermediate hot room (tepidarium) where they used to get accustomed with the heat.
Lastly one could go to the cold room (frigidarium), and immerse oneself into a cold pool (na-
15
tatio). Some baths had laconicum, which is a very hot dry-steam room where one stays
there very briefly.
Romans made bathing a part of their culture and daily routine that most of the social classes
were able to enjoy. It was a ‘microcosm’ within the Roman Empire that represented physical
and political power as well as superiority over nature. At the same time, the real success
and development of baths came with the discovery of advanced hypocaust system and the
gradation of rooms according to temperature that was eventually passed on and adopted by
the following cultures. The next chapter analyses baths during Byzantine times when the
Roman Empire split into a West and East division. Byzantine baths are marked by different
development and uses mostly due to the strong influence of the Christian Church.
1.1.3 Byzantine Baths (476 – 1453 AD)
Constantine the Great conquered the Greek city Byzantium and in 330 AD renamed it Constantinople. It became the capital of the East Roman Empire, which was later called Byzantine Empire. After the death of Theodosius I in 395 AD, the Roman Empire was split into a
West and East division. The history of the Byzantine Empire can be divided into three periods: the early, which endured approximately till the middle of the 7th century, the middle till
11th – 12th centuries and the late, which ended with the conquest of Constantinople in 1453
by the Ottoman Turks. Not much is known about public bathing during the Byzantium period
especially during the middle period of the Empire, yet Constantinople had the biggest number of imperial thermae and other public baths especially during the first three centuries of
the Empire. Thus Constantinople was the city where the bathing culture was more prevailing
than in other parts of the Byzantine Empire. Census Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae, for
instance, recorded eight thermae and 153 small baths in Constantinople in the early 5th century. (see Mango1984: p339; Yegül 1992: p324) In addition, thermae in Constantinople
were opulent in decoration, rich in statues and not inferior in scale to those of Ancient Rome.
There are three main reasons that caused big public baths to decline during the middle age:
dwindling population, hence the baths were too big to use, economic considerations, which
made it too expensive to maintain the baths (see Yegül 1992: p314; Mango 1984: p351-352)
and Christianity that became a genuine characteristic of the Empire (see Rice 1967: p13).
The newly introduced religion dictated some patterns of life, social behaviour and to some
extent politics.
16
The Christian Church had an ambiguous position about baths and bathing, which in times
went as far as to follow the ascetic ideal that neglect of personal hygiene would achieve
grace of God as it was believed. As Yegül indicates “the Church often tried to create the
impression that the baths of the pagan world were linked with the devil” (p314). Although
baths were in opposition to the Christian doctrines and spirituality, the Church allowed bathing in general if the washing of the body was done for functional, hygienic and medical reasons excluding the element of pleasure. Furthermore, baths were necessary to perform baptism, a fundamental event in Christian life. Therefore, the clergy could not totally reject baths
for they needed to use it, too, for religious as well as hygienic reasons. Eventually baths became a part of the Church in order to “regulate the secular as well as the religious life of the
faithful” as some scholars interpret. (Browning, see Yegül 1992: p320)
The other issue that the Christian Church was in particular in strong opposition to was that of
the gymnasiums. Yegül suggests that this disapproval was related to “the idle watching of
athletic performances” and furthermore it was believed that gymnasiums had a “potential to
resurrect this [pagan] culture”. (Yegül 1992: p320) It is one possible reason why baths lost
their athletic use during that time. Thus palaestra was abandoned and people bathed more
for social reasons.
Indeed religion played an important role in Byzantium, which is in particular noticeable in the
emperor’s Basil I urban renewal plans during the 9th century. For instance, the urban renewal plans excluded civic buildings, yet religious amenities like monasteries and churches
as well as hospices especially proliferated in the Empire during that time. (see Mango 1984:
p340) In fact it is interesting to examine another trend: even though public baths were excluded from urban renewal plans, they became popular among aristocracy and were built on
the imperial court. (Ibid.) Hence public baths stopped functioning during the middle ages of
the Byzantine Empire apart from the very reserved used by the Imperial court.
In short, bathing did not become a daily practice and could not survive physically because of
the religious and economic conditions during the middle age of the Byzantine Empire. Christian religion was particularly influential in forming attitudes towards bath and bathing as well
as to a certain extent to the urban appearance of Constantinople. Whereas in the early period of the Empire public baths were a “symbol of civilization” (Yegül 1992: p322), in the later
periods they fell into oblivion and stopped manifesting a unique urban culture and were
rather reserved for a more privileged social group.
17
REFERENCES
Baldson, J.P.V.D., Life and Leisure in Ancient Rome, London: Phoenix Press 2002
Carcopino, J., Daily Life in Ancient Rome, London: Cox and Wyman Ltd. 1962
DeLaine, J., Introduction: Bathing and Society, in Journal of Roman Archaeology, 37/1999,
7-16
DeLaine, J., The Baths of Caracalla: A Study in the Design, Construction, and Economics of
Large-Scale Buildings in Imperial Rome, Portsmouth: Cushing Malloy 1997
Fagan, G.G., Bathing in Public in the Roman World, USA: The University of Michigan Press
1999
Lawrence, A.W., Greek Architecture, revised with additions by Tomlison, R.A. London: Yale
University Press 1983
Mango, C., Byzantium and its Image: History and Culture of the Byzantine Empire and its
Heritage, London: Variorum Reprints 1984
Mango, C., Byzantium: The Empire of the New Rome, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson
1980
Meiggs, R., Roman Ostia, 2nd Ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press Ltd. 1973
Nielsen, I., Early Provincial Baths and their Relations to Early Italic Baths, in Journal of Roman Archaeology 37/1999, 35-43
Yegül, F., Baths and Bathing in Classical Antiquity, New York: The MIT Press 1992
Zajac, N., The Thermae: a Policy of Public Health or Personal Legitimation? in Journal of
Roman Archaeology 37/1999, 99-105
18
1.2 Significance of Turkish Bath Culture During the Ottoman Classical Period
This section attempts to cover the time frame from the Ottoman Empire that emerged in 13th
century to the 19th century when the first reforms took place and thus paved a way to more
drastic change that inevitably affected all aspects of life: economic, political, social, religious.
Specifically the sixteenth century, the heyday of the Ottoman classical architecture, closely
associated with the works of great court architect Sinan, will be briefly discussed. Since the
huge territory that encompassed the Ottoman Empire and today’s modern state Turkey is
vast and complex in terms of cultural and social diversity, arts and traditions, economics and
politics, the focus of the study will be on Istanbul only. The interest of this research lies in
hamams situated in Istanbul. The Ottoman period from 15th to 19th centuries is in fact a big
span in time and certainly during this course hamams underwent changes. Nevertheless, it
is still sensible to view this time frame more or less as a unified whole in comparison to the
later periods of Turkish history. 10
Seljuk Turks conquered most of Asia Minor from the Byzantine Empire at the battle of Manzikert in 1071. When the Seljukid state was eventually in the process of collapsing, the Ottoman beylik (territory) was the most powerful in Anatolia. Eventually it was possible for Osman I to declare its independence in 1299, which is the date considered as the beginning of
the Ottoman Empire. Another significant event of the Ottoman history is the capture of Constantinople from the Byzantines in 1453 by Sultan Mehmet Fatih. Constantinople became
the capital of the Ottoman Empire and later was renamed Istanbul. The Ottoman Empire
lasted until 1923 when Atatürk subsequently proclaimed the Republic of Turkey.
Turkish baths (hamams) in Istanbul built after 1453 provide the classical Ottoman bath pattern as the basis for the following research. As some scientific accounts reveal, total 237
public baths were built in Istanbul, yet some of them are not traceable, the locations of some
of those are also unknown. (Haskan, see Yılmazkaya, 2003: p15) Furthermore, there were
many private hamams built in rich people houses and Sultan’s family palace. However, two
types of baths should be distinguished in Turkish culture: ılıca, which is built on thermal water resources and used mostly for health reasons and hamam, which is a steam bath. The
first type of bath has different functions and meanings; therefore ılıca will not be compared
and studied together with traditional Turkish hamams. In addition to that, the Turkish baths,
as it will be argued, have some influences from Islamic traditions as well as from Roman
Empire that will be specified in this work.
10
Part 2 of the thesis will analyse the Tanzimat and the Republican periods to provide comparative
studies of Turkish baths during Ottoman classical period.
19
1.2.1 Turkish Baths: a Continuation of the Roman Bath and the Islamic Traditions
With the rise of Islam there was a new page opened in bathing culture, which was also
adopted by Turks. 11 The history of Islamic baths began as early as Umayyad period during
7th-8th centuries. 12 The baths were in fact “a sort of annex of the mosque” (see Marçais, in
Encyclopaedia of Islam 1971: p139), an area where life in the city quarter revolved around
and generally was a focal point of the neighbourhood. Later this principle of having baths as
the “annex of the mosque” was also practiced by the Ottomans who mostly built hamams as
a part of a külliye, a big charity centre that contained schools, mosques, kitchen and other
architectural units. Hamams as well as other independent functions of the charity centre
were accommodated in separate buildings. Külliye was an important social and economic
institution in the neighbourhood (mahalle) and had political significance, since the charitable
establishments could demonstrate that the Imperial family cared about their people. Furthermore baths were associated with immediate pleasure and delight thus it was in particular
a good strategy to show Sultan’s generosity both for the subjects and foreign guests.
Islamic belief is based on two important sources: Koran and Hadis. The Koran encompasses sacred writings that Allah revealed to the prophet Muhammed. Hadis, on the other
hand, is “sayings” or “traditions” of the Prophet, a kind of ‘Koran in action’. 13 Both sources
mention gusül (total ablution), which is the washing of the body with water.
For instance, Koran says "O you who believe! when you rise up to prayer, wash your faces
and your hands as far as the elbows, and wipe your heads and your feet to the ankles; and if
you are under an obligation to perform a total ablution, then wash (yourselves) and if you are
sick or on a journey, or one of you come from the privy, or you have touched the women, and
you cannot find water, betake yourselves to pure earth and wipe your faces and your hands
therewith, Allah does not desire to put on you any difficulty, but He wishes to purify you and
that He may complete His favor [favour] on you, so that you may be grateful. " (Maide Sura,
6. Verse) 14 The Koran directly commands to wash one’s face, hands and feet before every
prayer and furthermore to perform an ablution when, for instance, a man had a body contact
with a woman. However more intricate obligations of how to wash one’s body are described
11
There is no archaeological and literal record about religion being attached to bathing during the
Antique period “with the exception of the politically motivated Imperial Cult.” (Yegül 1992: p124).
12
Before the conquest of Constantinople, there were already a lot of small-scale hamams in Edirne.
Furthermore, the Anatolian Seljuks built baths, for instance, in Kayseri, Konya, Tokat and many other
places across their Empire. (see also Yılmazkaya 2003: p14 ) Therefore, the Ottomans did not
merely inherit the idea of the baths from the Byzantines.
13
See http://voi.org/books/uith/intro.htm
14
See http://www.kurandaara.com
20
in Hadis. It includes some further washing details like which hand or leg to wash first, making the whole process of washing a ceremony.
Additionally, there are several prohibitions in Islamic religion that influence the behaviour in
baths. Firstly, Islam does not welcome a total nudity, which is contrast to that of Roman
times when the body was openly emphasised. Therefore, in hamam the visitor should cover
‘private parts’ from knees to the waist as Islamic laws proscribe it. (see Yılmazkaya 2003:
p21) It is not accidental that hamams include small secluded areas (halvet), which provide
space for bathing in privacy. Secondly, pools, an important space in the bath complex of
Greek and Roman times, vanished in hamams. According to Islam only running water is
regarded to be clean and suitable for performing ablution. However it is especially interesting to find out that some Islamic baths had smaller or bigger pools filled with hot or cold water. It is apparently contradictory to Islamic belief yet some scholars suggest that it could be
related to the luxurious tastes of the founders of this particular hamam, therefore pools in
hamam are still regarded to be a rare exception rather than a widespread rule. (see Encyclopaedia of Islam 1971: p142)
Hamams were financed by vakıf, a charitable endowment, and it was a common practice of
this time to provide income for maintaining the sultanic establishments. Financial resources
of vakıf were usually collected from non-Muslim residents of Istanbul, their businesses or
some other rent contracts. Vakıf tradition comes from the Islamic law best described in
Hadis, which encourages giving alms to the poor and those in need. It seems that the practice was well approved at this time as it “…served social and economic needs. It was a
means to protect an estate against confiscation by the state or against disintegration” and
also to “keep property as much as possible within the agnatic group.” (The Encyclopaedia of
Islam 2000: p60) Generally, vakıf is a practice, which aimed to guard property, provide regular income and in a way to have economic and political stability within the realm of the Sultanate.
Finally, mahalle hamams along with the mosques, schools or the other stone buildings were
the ‘focal points’ of the neighbourhood that typically “…encompassed about 150 residences
of wooden houses in different sizes, connected by small, inward-turned streets”, therefore
looked physically notable and potent in the urban ensemble of Istanbul.
(Kuban, see
Cichocki 2005: p99)
The appearance of Islamic baths in architecturally developed form indicates its succession
from the Roman thermae. (see Encyclopaedia of Islam 1971: p141) Furthermore, the man-
21
ner of building hamams as a part of külliye is also similar to the way Romans built their thermae as a part of a huge complex 15 . Furthermore, hypocaust heating system as well as the
gradation of rooms according to temperature was taken from the Romans. Yet the difference
is that for Romans the bath was a centre. Additionally, one cannot find palaestra in Turkish
baths since no physical exercises are connected to Turkish bathing culture. Additionally,
pools, an essential space in Roman thermae, were abandoned in Turkish hamams and used
only in thermal baths 16 . At the same time, hamams were not highly decorated in comparison
to that of Romans. In short, the spaces in Turkish baths have some different meanings and
functions and are overall not merely an imitation of preceding civilization. The following description of hamams as a part of Ottoman architectural ensemble as well as an intrinsic social Islamic space will further illustrate Turkish hamams as a peculiar bathing culture in history.
1.2.2 Ottoman Architecture and Turkish Baths
Since the Constantinople’s conquest by Mehmet Fatih in 1453 such symbolic monuments of
the Ottomans like baths and mosques proliferated in Istanbul. Some scholars argue that
after Constantinople came under the rule of Sultan, hamams were built“…on much larger
scale than mosques in their quest to create monuments for the heterogeneously populated
city, since hamams as non-confessional urban foci extended charity to all and provided a
public space in which all religious groups could partake.” (Kafesçioğlu, see Cichocki 2005:
p110, n.14) Even if such an argument is exaggerated, the author points out to the significant
position hamam plays as a space for people of different backgrounds and confessions for
social and religious reasons in the early stages of the Empire. Furthermore, Howard Crane’s
translated guide book of the 18th century author Hafiz Hüseyin Al-Ayvansarayî’s about the
monuments of Ottomans in Istanbul, The Garden of The Mosques (2000), indicates hamams
66 times, some of those giving the name either to the mosque or to the entire neighbourhood, which also indicates that the baths were an important institution of the Empire. (see
Cichocki 2005: p110, n.13)
The 16th century was a period of active building during which classical Ottoman architecture
reached its apogee especially during a long reign of Süleyman (1520-1566). The monumentality of Istanbul and its classical architecture is associated with Süleyman’s court architect
15
Greek gymnasiums, for instance, also included schools whereas Ottoman school medrese were
also a part of a charitable complex külliye.
16
Islamic religion considers still water as being dirty and therefore should not be used for washing the
body.
22
Sinan (1490-1580), who was indeed prolific: documents indicate that throughout the Empire
he built more than 300 buildings and about 120 of these buildings were in Istanbul alone.
(see Çelik 1986: p26 1986: p26) In particular Sinan’s külliyes manifest Istanbul’s Islamic and
Ottoman urban characteristic whereby hamams played an important part for performing religious obligations, meeting other people as well as taking pleasures of bathing and being
clean. 17
Turkish hamams consist of a certain number of rooms. The main spaces are soyunmalık 18 ,
the undressing room; soğukluk, a cold room (literal translation from Turkish) that in winter
can be used as a dressing room. Soğukluk is situated between soyunmalık and sıcaklık.
The next section, sıcaklık or ‘inner hamam’ is a hot room of a bath. (see Fig. 11) This section of the bath has a large dome often decorated with small glass windows (so called the
elephant’s eye glass) that create a half-light. Halvet 19 is a very hot small bathing cell with
adjustable steam lids. It is a place where a visitor can bathe in private if desired. No door
partitions this secluded area, therefore a bather hangs a peştemal (a special towel for bathing) over the entry and thus indicate that a halvet is occupied. In halvet one can also find
basins for washing. 20 The secluded space of halvet in fact also indicates an Islamic religious
influence on privacy, of not showing a naked body to others. Külhan, a space for heating, is
a room kept apart from the other sections of a hamam. The külhan has a separate entrance
from outside. (Fig. 12)
The hot place sıcaklık and the dressing place soyunmalık are most pronounced in Turkish
hamams for their special functions. The hot area is used for bathing, massaging and rubbing
the skin with kese, a special rough glove. The “heart” of every sıcaklık is göbektaşı that is a
marble stone positioned in the middle of the section, usually octagonal or square in shape. A
bather can lie down and relax on göbektaşı, (see Fig. 13) massage and rubbing of the skin is
also usually done there. The dressing room soyunmalık is often the largest area in the whole
hamam. Very often one can find a fountain in the middle of this section and a tea prepara-
17
The manifestation of Islamic and Ottoman Istanbul’s urban characteristic can be observed as far
back as Mehmet II conquest of Constantinople when the construction of külliye began. (see Çelik
1986: p26)
18
The undressing room in Turkish hamam is also called camegah.
19
In Arabic this word means ‘secluded or private place.’
20
A traditional Umayyad bath has four rooms. It consisted of a room for undressing and resting, transition room, which was not heated but warm enough to use as a room to adapt to the following first
and second heated rooms. The second heated room was called a “steam bath” or harara in Arabic.
The bath had a furnace room that is not a part of hamam, but rather a separate room from where the
heating of the bath is done. One can find many modifications in Islamic baths, e.g. the omission of
one room or the other, but these differences are normal because some regions had their own customs. The architectural form of the Islamic bath prototype is provided as a comparative example
since Turkish hamam is also influenced by Islamic traditions.
23
tion place (see Yılmazkaya 2003: p41-42), which makes it an important space for communication and entertainment.
In terms of architectural appearance, there are basically two types of Turkish hamams.
Firstly, a so-called single hamam, which is primarily designated for male bathers but is temporarily open to female bathers for a limited period of time during the day. Secondly, a double çifte hamam, which can be used by both sexes simultaneously since the bath accommodates two separate sections.
The common procedure of bathing in Islamic as well as Turkish hamam was the following:
after the removal of clothes, one dresses in a special cloth and then proceeds to the unheated room to get accustomed to the heat. The further one proceeds to the centre of the
building, the more hot and humid it becomes. Later specially trained staff, which is male for
male visitors and female for female visitors give massages, wash and rub the skin of the
bathers.
Among some peculiar architectural elements of Turkish baths are so-called ‘elephant’s eyes’,
which are approximately 15-20 centimetres diameter windows. (see Fig. 14) They are installed over the central dome to illuminate the inside of the hamam. ‘Elephant’s eyes’ can
catch the light from all directions due to its special shape, which is bell-shaped and made of
a thick glass. As Yılmazkaya noted round or star-shaped windows “can catch whatever light
is outside no matter what the hour of the day and send it filtering in a very mysterious and
beautiful fashion over the bathers perspiring on the platform below.” (see Yılmazkaya 2003:
p45)
Unfortunately, not many hamams nowadays have this beautiful architectural element
due to its expensive price. Instead, the owners and managers of hamam install cheaper flat,
double-paned glass.
The kurna (a basin for washing, see Fig. 15), which is made of marble or stone fine workmanship, is one more Ottoman architectural feature integrated in Turkish baths. Kurna is
installed under the two faucets (one for hot and the other one for cold water) and collects
water enough for washing. These basins are used for gathering only clean water, which is
not defiled since, according to Islamic belief, still water is considered dirty. The inside of the
basin is smoothed and polished whereas the outside is sometimes decorated and engraved.
Furthermore, some kurna provide an example of fine workmanship. Usually, the most decorated marble basins, for example, are so-called ‘bride’s kurna’ that is used for certain traditions of Ottoman women 21 .
21
Chapter 1.2.3 explains some traditions connected to Ottoman hamam culture.
24
The light to the undressing room comes from a hexagonal or octagonal ‘roof lantern’, which
is built in the top of the domes. The domes are made of brick or stone whereas “lantern” is
constructed either of wood, brick or stone. (see Fig. 16) Most of the ‘roof lanterns’ are not
preserved, therefore only a few hamams of Istanbul can show its originals. 22
To get a better insight on the hamam architectural structure, a ground plan of a Turkish historical hamam Çemberlitaş will be studied. (see Fig. 17). The bath was built in 1584 in Istanbul’s historic area of Sultanahmet near the Grand Bazaar. It is a typical double hamam
(çifte): a symmetrical building in which one section is reserved for men and the other one for
women. Originally the entrance for men and women was supposed to be separated, but the
hamam underwent many changes and modifications, therefore nowadays men and women
use the same entrance. Moreover, after such modifications, a part of the men’s undressing
section was united with women’s warm room section. As a result, the new space was designated entirely for women, which was used as an undressing room. (see chapter 2.1) In the
ground plan (see Fig. 18) one can see the emphasis on the undressing rooms and the main
hot rooms, which are covered by four large and many smaller domes. Smaller domes also
cover the intermediate room. Majestic domes and two symmetrical groups of buildings and
an emphasis on hot rooms and undressing rooms is a common classical model of Turkish
hamams that is also depicted in the given example.
1.2.3 Turkish Baths as an Islamic Social Space
No other cultures before had so many traditions connected to bathing as did the Turks.
Hamam became a culture and the most important entertainment and communication space
especially for Turkish women. It was like a women’s club and the only place during Ottoman
times where they could be apart from men and the strict family surveillance. Lady Mary
Wortley Montagu, who lived in Constantinople in the beginning of the 17th century, after the
visit of several Ottoman baths, was quick to state that hamam is “.... the women’s coffeehouse, where all the news of the town is told, scandal invented (...) They generally take this
diversion once a week, and stay there at least four or five hours.” (Melville 1925: pp127-130)
Hamam was such an important social space that some mothers, for instance, looked for a
potential wife for her adult son and indeed a bath was a perfect place for that.
Women, in contrast to men, attended a bath in groups and celebrated all the significant
events of life with friends, family members and even strangers creating a truly bathing culture
22
For instance, the hamams of Hagia Sophia, Süleymaniye and Çemberlitaş can still provide originals
of ‘lantern’.
25
of women. A “Bride’s bath” tradition inherited from the Byzantine times, was one of the most
important social events held in a hamam where a young woman would be given advice on
married life. (see Yılmazkaya 2003: p24) All female relatives and friends from the bride’s
and groom’s families would be invited to this party usually by sending a piece of soap as a
sign of invitation. This event would be accompanied with music and dances, prayers and
washing the bride.
After the wedding other traditions that would continuously depict a
woman’s life cycle would follow. For instance, when a woman gives birth to a child, there
would be one more round of celebration that is called “postpartum” or “forty day bath”. (Ibid.
p25) The number forty is symbolic in many cultures and religions. Turks believe that a newborn child should not leave the house, have a contact with another baby or a woman who
herself has recently given birth; otherwise a child will be weak. After forty days from birth a
child and a mother make the first trip to hamam, which is an especially important event in a
woman’s and her child’s life.
If a woman has a son who becomes a soldier, she would hold a party one or two weeks after
he left for service. The mother would cover all the expenses to invite relatives, neighbours
and friends. From the soldier’s hamam tradition comes a famous saying that the son “should
go and come as swiftly as water”, the saying, which until nowadays is widely used also when
friends or relatives leave. Cleansing a former prostitute was another peculiar tradition celebrated in a bath. A woman who made a decision to change her way of life “... could be entirely cleansed with a special “forty times over” bath that would cleanse her of the “filth” of her
profession.” (Ibid. Yılmazkaya 2003: p26) The number forty is again chosen, a symbolic
number that can change the old past or way of live into the new one. There were many other
traditions connected to the women hamam, however it would go beyond the scope of this
thesis to describe them all. Yet these few examples give an important insight of how the
women hamam culture represents significant events of a Muslim life cycle.
Men celebrated some traditions in hamam, too, although not so often as women. Consequently a bathing tradition was not socially as crucial as that in case of women. Usually they
would attend a bath individually and it was done especially on Thursday night or Friday
morning, because for Muslims Cuma is the holy day of the week. But there were also some
occasions when men would visit a hamam as a group and it would usually take place in Istanbul. It happened especially during Tulumbacı hamam or fire squad hamam taken by men
from a fire squad after a successful extinction of a fire. If a fire was extinguished during a
day, a man from a squad would attend a bath individually, but during the night the entire
group would visit hamam all together, which would be reserved just for them. (Ibid. p29)
Another tradition celebrated among men - circumcision hamam - performed at the age when
26
a boy is about five or seven years old. It would be celebrated together with the men of the
family and the friends of the boy. Circumcision is performed for hygienic considerations as
well as a sign for a boy’s transition to manhood.
Turkish baths despite certain influences from preceding cultures, namely Roman, is a unique
cultural expression due to Islamic religion as well as due to rich bathing traditions that one
can find in Turkish hamams. In addition, public baths were a place where a Muslim could
perform the full body ablution required by religion as well as to follow the basic hygienic
needs especially during the time when there were no bathrooms at homes. Architecture of
Turkish baths has adapted some technical innovations from the Romans: the hypocaust
system and gradation of rooms based on temperature. However some Islamic influences on
Turkish hamams are also evident. Therefore, some spaces in hamams lost its significance
due to Islamic religion. For instance, swimming pools were not integrated, making an intermediate warm room of less social significance. Instead undressing room and the hot room in
Turkish baths were more emphasised as an architectural space. Therefore, these rooms
were more decorated and one can find a fountain, for instance, in undressing room, or beautiful basins in the hot area of the Ottoman bath. In short, architecturally Turkish hamam
make a fusion of the Roman bath as a prototype and Islamic traditions and thus altogether
creates a unique bathing culture in terms of its monumentality as well as an important social
and religious platform of Turkish people.
With this brief historic overview, one should be able to see the Ottoman hamam as something which has truly exemplified Turkish culture: this institution was an indispensable part of
Ottoman-Islamic complex külliye, played an important role in fulfilling religious requirements
and created a social communication platform especially for Ottoman women. From an architectural point of view hamams represented Ottoman-Islamic monumental features and aesthetics. Turkish baths is a witness of an important epoch in Ottoman-Islamic history.
The next section will make comparative studies within Ottoman Empire between different
periods of times. Two main periods will be analysed, namely Tanzimat and Republican,
which are marked by major internal cultural changes within the Ottoman Empire. At the
same time, it will seek to highlight the first part of the hypothesis of this thesis, which is the
following: cultural change is influencing the bath culture in Turkey.
27
REFERENCES
Çelik, Z., The Remaking of Istanbul: Portrait of an Ottoman City in the Nineteenth Century,
Seattle: University of Washington Press 1986
Cichocki, N., Continuity and Change in Turkish Bathing Culture in Istanbul: The Life Story of
the Çemberlitaş Hamam, Turkish Studies, Vol.6/No.1 2005, 93-143
Encyclopaedia of Islam, Volume 3, Ed. Lewis, B., Ménage, V.L., Pelat, Ch., and Schacht, J.,
London: Luzan & Co. 1971
Melville, L., Lady Mary Wortley Montagu: Her Life and Letters (1689-1762), London: Hutchinson & Co. Paternoster Row 1925
Yegül, F., Baths and Bathing in Classical Antiquity, New York: The MIT Press 1992
Yılmazkaya, O., A Light on a Tradition and Culture: Turkish Baths. A Guide to the historic
Turkish baths of Istanbul, Istanbul: Çitlembik LTD. 2003
http://www.kurandaara.com, site visited in May 17, 2006
http://voi.org/books/uith/intro.htm, site visited in October 25, 2005
28
2 Changes in Hamam Within the Course of History
Part 2 of this thesis is to give a historical background of social changes affecting the existence of hamams in Istanbul due to urban development and modernisation in the last two
centuries. In order to better understand the internal cultural changes that eventually affected
the use of hamam culture among other things, two major periods will be studied: the Tanzimat reforms of 19th century and the Republican that was proclaimed in 1923 and continues
till the current age. These two periods are marked by westernisation and rapid modernisation, therefore internal changes of Turkey have been significant in comparison to the classical Ottoman period of approximately 15th to 18th centuries that was studied in chapter 1.2.
As a result, internal transformations of Turkey, which took place during the Tanzimat and the
Republican periods, induced a changing spirit of hamams in Istanbul as an Ottoman architectural ensemble and as a social and religious space.
2.1 The Tanzimat Reforms (1839-1876) and Hamams: Dualism of Istanbul and
the First Contacts with Europe
Historic Background: Towards the Tanzimat Reforms
As early as the 16th century during the late reign of the Süleyman the Magnificent, the first
symptoms of the Empire’s decline were surfacing. It happened for several reasons. (see
Shaw From Empire to Republic 2000: pp12-13) The Ottoman hierarchical system depended
largely on the Sultan himself, therefore eventually it was impossible for the Sultan alone to
oversee the administering of such a huge and intricate Empire. At the same time, the Ottoman Empire was often threatened by increasingly powerful external forces. Furthermore, the
ruling class took advantage of the system and governed their principalities without central
control especially in places further from Istanbul. As a result, it was no longer possible to run
the Empire as a strong unit. Reforms were necessary.
The first precursor of the Tanzimat Reforms started with the Nizam-i Cedid 23 reforms introduced by Selim III (1789-1807). However, it was difficult for the Sultan to put forward the
new modes of technology, economics and administration in particular due to the ruling Muslim class of the Empire who resisted changes. The ruling class, for instance, held that the
Ottoman system was superior to that of European. Furthermore, they were reluctant to accept changes in the system, especially when it meant losing some political and economic
23
It means ‘the new order’.
29
advantages from the Empire. All in all, the “iron curtain” between the East and West prevented the Ottomans to keep in touch with the West and its development. (see Shaw, Studies in Ottoman and Turkish History 2000: p92) Therefore, the ruling class did not try to reorganize the whole new system right away, but hoped that military reforms and a modern army
alone “…could so well defend the empire that the remaining traditional institutions could survive with little change.” (Shaw, From Empire to Republic 2000: p15)
Despite all obstacles, Sultan Selim III managed to introduce a new army, the Nizam-i Cedid
that used European weapons and war tactics. The reforms were indeed restricted in scope
for its focus was only on the military, while foregoing other essential changes of Ottoman
society and its mentality that might help solve deeper structural problems of the Ottoman
Empire. Yet the reforms of Selim III created an awareness of the West. As a result, for instance, some officers started to learn European languages, the first Ottoman ambassadors
were sent to European capitals and Europeans also came to live in Istanbul. 24
After an opposing ruling class and the powerful Janissary corps killed Sultan Selim III, the
new army was scattered. His cousin Mahmud II, the sole male descendant of the Ottoman
line, came to power in 1808. Mahmud II is an important Sultan in Ottoman history. He
showed the patterns and opened the way to the modern Tanzimat reforms due to his personal character as well as his understanding that the new system can function only after destroying the old structure and those who opposed to modernisation. Hence he waited as
long as 18 years until favourable situation came that allowed him to destroy Janissary corps
in 1826 25 , a personal guard of the sultan, a ‘symbol and instrument of reform’. (see Shaw,
From Empire to Republic 2000: p18-19) 26 After the Janissaries were wiped out, a “modern
reform was born.” (Ibid.) Eventually, Mahmud II son Sultan Abdülmecit II was able to legislate the Tanzimat edict, the Hatt-ı Hümayun 27 (1839-1876) that would change the major
structures of the Ottoman Empire. 28
The modern Tanzimat reform was more radical than the Nizam-i Cedid reform in several
ways: firstly it was acknowledged that Europe was superior, therefore new methods and
institutions of the West should be applied; secondly it was thought that these new European
24
See chapter 3.1 about the first European accounts on hamams.
Mahmud II found a good pretext to execute the Janissaries in 1826 when they could not protect
Muslims from ethnic cleansing and thus they earned bad reputation among the Ottomans.
26
During the decline of the Empire Janissaries became powerful agent to oppose all the changes that
would not be convenient to them or rather to those political forces and bureaucracy they served as
an instrument to resist the reforms.
27
It means ‘re-ordering’.
28
Still the modern reforms of the Tanzimat must probably be reduced to Istanbul and its close regions
since the ‘re-ordering’ affected the Ottoman Empire as far as 160 miles away from the capital. (see
Clogg, in Zeynep Kuban 2001: p2)
25
30
institutions and methods should totally replace the old ones. Hence, it was thought that modernisation was possible if Europe were taken as a model. The France Revolution of 1789
was accepted as an idealistic basis for the Tanzimat edict. Due to this a new concept of democracy, of the equality of all subjects, rights and privileges regardless of religion, was proclaimed in the Ottoman Empire.
The Tanzimat reforms established new institutions like ministries, councils and courts. At the
same time, the governmental body of the Empire has also changed: it led to the division of
governmental body into legislative, administrative and judicial. The administrative jurisdiction
was transferred from kadıs (Moslem judges) to highly complex body of bureaucrats who were
educated in the new manner of European science, languages and philosophy. 29 They became the main governing body and a new social stratum of the Ottoman Empire. In order to
handle many duties that the government faced, the Ottoman administration became central.
For instance, during the Tanzimat the Ottoman cities’ infrastructure improved: the means of
transport and communication such as new roads, railroads and telegraph network were built
and so even the remote places of the Empire were connected within reach of the Istanbul
centralised government.
New Urban Philosophy and Hamams
Transformation of the physical appearance of Istanbul – architecture in smaller scale and
urban form in bigger scale – was an important aspect of modernisation during the 19th century.
It was thought that positive results in physical appearance of Istanbul could be
achieved if certain rules and regulations, borrowed from European methods, would be applied. 30 Mustafa Reşit Paşa was one of the main architects of reform to formulate the initial
rules for urban planning as early as 1836. He admired European cities like Paris, Vienna
and London that he visited as a diplomat, and therefore wanted to change the Ottoman Istanbul to meet the standards of the great capitals of the West. Mustafa Reşit Paşa proposed
first to regularise the mazelike streets of Istanbul, which had to be based on mathematical
29
The ‘re-ordering’ of the Ottoman Empire showed a necessity to create a new model of education
that would be able to educate officials and the new ruling class who would be willing to carry out the
reforms. At the same time, it was still not possible to harshly replace religious schools yet they were
viewed as archaic in comparison to new secular schools that were built in the Empire.
30
The Ottoman Empire during the classical period was organized under the Islamic legal system, the
law given by God şeriat. This Islamic tradition developed their own legal rules called kanuns, which
were managed by judges (kadıs). Kadıs took care all matters concerning law and justice, yet often
there existed unwritten sources, too, to manage particular cases. (see Çelik 1986: p50)
31
ules. Furthermore, he argued, wooden houses had to be converted into kargir (stone or
brick) in order to prevent countless fires that the capital suffered. 31
In addition to that, the French urban philosophy manifested by the main planner of Paris,
Baron Haussmann, who was in charge from 1853 till 1870, served to some extent as a model
for the Commission for Road Improvement (İ.T.K.) 32 in their re-planning works in Istanbul
peninsula. 33 The main concept of Baron Haussmann was the glory of the monuments that
can be seen best accentuated, as he believed, in isolation. Therefore the scheme was focused on regularized planning, wide and straight boulevards that would lead to some grandiose monuments to signify the glorious past. Consequently, the philosophy of urban planning
and the physical changes made by the commission can be currently seen in Istanbul peninsula in general and in the case of Çemberlitaş hamam in particular.
The Commission for Road Improvement applied Haussmann’s model while enlarging Divanyolu, as a result some monuments of historic value were disregarded. 34 Divanyolu, the main
street artery of this area was widened by the Commission for Road Improvement from the
average of 3.8 meters to 19 meters (Çelik 1986: p4; p57), which to some extent resembled
Paris’ wide and big boulevards with regular planning. The Çemberlitaş hamam was one of
the historic Ottoman monuments that were on the way, therefore it was partly demolished: a
Commission for Road Improvement cut off a corner of the Çemberlitaş, including part of its
dome. (see Fig. 19) Later the sliced part was bricked up again, yet the women’s section was
closed for several decades. (see Çelik 1986: pp59-60) 35
Cichocki thinks that the İ.T.K. choice was clearly “…Classical Ancient and Byzantine monuments—perceived as heritage linking the Ottoman Empire and Greek, and therefore European, civilization—as focal points on which to hinge their Haussmannization scheme”
(Cichocki 2005: p102). Due to this, the policy mistreated Ottoman-Islamic heritage and
hamams in particular.
31
For instance, 109 fires took place in Istanbul and Galata between 1633 and 1839. (see Çelik 1986:
pp52-53)
32
İ.T.K. was appointed in order to regularize and improve the road network after the Hocapaşa fire in
Istanbul peninsular
33
In general Haussmann’s scheme was not widely used in Istanbul.
34
Çemberlitaş hamam is located on the corner of Divanyolu near Grand Bazaar and opposite to the
remains of Constantine’s Column.
35
As a matter of fact, the women’s dressing section is not yet fully regained to its original use as it
presently locates one Anatolian restaurant. However that the women part of hamam could be still
used, part of a men dressing section was remade and added to women’s warm room to create a new
space, which is small, but still can function as a dressing room for women. As a result there is only
one entrance left to hamam for the same reasons of reconstructions and modifications undertaken
during that time. (see chapter 1.2.2)
32
The discussion about the Tanzimat reforms and later the Republic causing a break in history
from the Ottoman-Islamic past, eventually leading to erosion of culture, is common, yet conclusion should not be drawn so easily. 36 It seems that during the Tanzimat period the value
of the historic architectural fabric was not so clearly and scientifically defined. Often European experts had to intervene in order to protect some important, especially, Byzantine
monuments. (see Çelik 1986: p59; p169 n.97) For instance, it is assumed that after much
attention given by Western scholars to the Byzantine heritage, İ.T.K. took it as an important
decision to elaborate on the historical significance of the Constantine’s Column. On the
other occasion Sultan Abdülaziz, who was keen on Westernisation, could also easily agree
with the plans to demolish the Byzantine wall of Theodosius following the demands of some
“Men of the Tanzimat”. However, Çelik claims it was preserved due to the efforts of European experts on antique works. The zero mile marker to the men of the Tanzimat was also
probably not known to the men of the Tanzimat in the 19th century since the excavation
around the zero mile marker took place in the late 60s of the 20th century. Therefore, it cannot be concluded too directly and so clearly as to the motives why İ.T.K. accentuated the
zero mile marker while broadening Divanyolu due to its significance as a Byzantine cultural
heritage.
Additionally, some Western planners of the 19th century envisioned grand schemes of Istanbul like a very novel one proposed by Bouvard. (see Fig. 20) However it remained only on
paper and was never implemented. 37 It may indicate that the city did not welcome such a
radical change that would disconnect the Ottoman capital from its Islamic past overnight.
Finally, it was not only the Byzantine monuments, which were emphasised while widening
the artery of Divanyolu; the Firuzağa Mosque, for instance, was highlighted on the northern
edge of the Hippodrome as well. (see Fig. 21)
Was it done deliberately or by chance? All in all the Ottoman heritage was certainly the victim of the new society, at the same time the claim that during the Tanzimat and later the Republican period (see also chapter 2.2) there was active erasure of history of the Ottoman
past is not so easy to conclude. The acknowledgment of western superiority cannot be always equalised with the rejection of the past particularly when scientific knowledge on the
value of monuments was not well defined at this time by the Ottomans.
To sum up, during 19th century Istanbul underwent transformation in urban forms as well as
in architecture, which was a way of westernising the Ottoman Empire in its physical appearance. The results of the Tanzimat reforms with regards to transforming Istanbul’s urban fab-
36
See also Kemal Karpat 2000: pp1-27 on the Republic breaking with the Ottoman and Islamic past.
Bouvard, who was an inspector-general of the Architectural Department of Paris at that time, proposed the schemes of Istanbul that disregarded social and cultural values of the city. Furthermore,
Istanbul’s complex topography was also ignored. (see Çelik 1986: p111)
37
33
ric were fruitful:
the communication network of the city has improved, new roads, new
squares and new social spaces like theatres and public parks were opened, transport network was largely improved and modern transport to even the most remote neighbourhoods
of Istanbul was introduced as well. As a result Istanbul transformed from “the classical Ottoman/Islamic urban image into a more cosmopolitan one…” (Çelik 1986: p49) Istanbul became a cosmopolitan city, fortunately with still prevailing Ottoman-Islamic monuments as well
as not completely regularised street structure. However, the transformation of urban and
architectural appearance did not always mean that monuments of historical significance were
taken into consideration. As the intensive works done by a Commission for Road Improvement after the 1865 Hocapaşa fire on Divanyolu show, some Ottoman historic fabric was
brutally disregarded. Damages made on the Çemberlitaş hamam, for instance, can still be
seen today.
Ottoman Society During the 19th Century
Despite the physical changes in Istanbul, lives of the majority of the capital inhabitants were
not dramatically transformed in the course of the 19th century. Therefore, the physical appearance of the city did not necessarily reflect the changing social life in Istanbul, let alone a
way of life in the rest of the Empire. In this section, the transformation of Istanbul in the 19th
century will be compared with Haussmann’s rebuilding of Paris in the same period. From
this, one can specify three main reasons why the ‘Europeanisation’ of Istanbul especially in
applying regular forms to the city, did not change the traditional patterns of life of the inhabitants drastically. (see Çelik 1986: pp79-80)
Firstly, in Paris the private developers undertook the construction of the new Parisian structures. As a result, people with lower income who lived in these neighbourhoods before the
re-planning were pushed out and the new Parisian bourgeoisie moved into the renovated
and spacious flats that neatly lined up Haussmann’s avenues. However, this gentrification
process in Istanbul is not observed in such a big scale since the owners themselves had to
rebuild their houses in the regularised neighbourhoods. Although the physical transformation
of Istanbul affected to some extent local people’s relationship to their neighbourhoods, the
intrinsic qualities as well as patterns of life in these neighbourhoods did not change radically
at the same time. Secondly, in Paris the dense and organic city pattern that existed before
the urban changes took place in 1850s were replaced by homogenous structures that were
restricted to the same height depending on the width of the street. Thus the layouts as well
as architectural style of the buildings were similar. In Istanbul, on the other hand side, housing patterns were still heterogeneous. Finally, the citywide transport network of Paris cut into
34
the city’s medieval fabric, whereas in Istanbul it was destruction by fires, which determined
the boundaries of such a re-planning and regularisation. Furthermore, the interconnection
between re-planned neighbourhoods was not required, thus the integrity and self-sufficiency
of the Istanbul neighbourhood was more or less preserved.
Relatively uninterrupted traditional pattern of life gave rise to a dualistic image of the city:
people with low income lived in Istanbul peninsula and continued to live in a more traditional
way whereas foreigners and many from the Istanbul elite preferred to reside in the modern
Galata and slowly adopted European patterns of life. 38 (see Çelik 1986: p81; p157) Therefore, the domes and minarets of the mosques and külliyes as well as the palaces and the
bazaars dominated the skyline of the traditional peninsula. The traditional social spaces and
entertainment in mahalle hamams, coffee houses and mosques were still a focus for the majority. On the other hand, at the end of the 19th century the modern Galata abounded with
new nightclubs, restaurants, European-style cafés, banks, hotels, theatres, department stories, cinemas, parks and European apartment buildings. In addition bathrooms were introduced into the modern European apartments, therefore bathing could be easily done at
home. At the same time, the elite started to view public baths as old fashioned and ‘archaic’
in comparison to new public places for socialising adopted from the West.
These physical changes in the urban fabric of the Empire influenced new social behaviour
and generally altered the needs of the Ottomans of the 19th century, mostly the elite. With
time the elite adopted the pattern of European way of socialising and thus more and more
couples in Galata started to socialize publicly by eating and entertaining outside the home.
Thus it broke gender segregation at some levels of the society (see Quataert 2000: pp154160) and fostered emancipation of women. The first glimpses of women’s emancipation in
the Ottoman Empire can be noted during the first half of the 19th century, yet it was again a
class-bound phenomenon. (see Unat 1981: pp6-7) For instance, Sultan Abdülaziz in 1863
initiated a teacher’s training college for girls and the following Sultan Abdülhamit was also in
general favourable of educating women. Yet, only the girls from wealthy families could seek
education either privately by European governesses or in foreign schools like the American
College for girls in Istanbul founded in 1890.
However, the majority of the capital’s residents still led the older patterns of lifestyles that
were concentrated in the peninsula. In the words of Çelik, the capital had “the Western fa-
38
Despite a modern way of life, hamams were still built in the European side of the Istanbul during this
time, e.g. the Firuz Ağa bath (built after 1831), the Çukurcuma Süreyya Bath (1831), the Hürriet Bath
(1911). Therefore the author makes an assumption that during the Tanzimat the traditional patterns
of life were still kept even in the European Pera of Istanbul.
35
çade, with its imported social and economic models, and its values that were embraced by
only a very small group (in Galata)”. (see Çelik 1986: p157) A relatively rapid modernisation
in the urban fabric especially in the European Galata, did not correspond to the standards of
life of the many in the Istanbul peninsula: many apartments still did not have indoor plumbing and furthermore new ways of socialising adopted from the West were not a part of their
daily life. Therefore people of low income heavily depended on hamams, which were nonetheless an important social and religious platform.
Conclusions on Ottoman Society in the 19th Century
A further indication that the capital was never westernised totally: mosques still manifested
in the skylines and streets were not completely regularised on both sides of the Golden Horn.
The majority of the society and their pattern of life were not transformed in accordance to the
European model. It was a cosmopolitan city but with its Islamic roots.
Istanbul and the Ottoman society of the 19th century in contrast to the classical Ottoman period can be best characterized as the ambivalent period in terms of dualistic social life patterns of Istanbul. The modern Galata was the centre of the Westernised life of the Empire,
which was also marked by a special social life borrowed from Europe. A new ‘type of citizen’
wanted to adapt to new modes and trends of the West, hence they took up new forms of entertainments and socialising and consequently broke gender segregation rules of the Empire.
However, the majority of the capital inhabitants, not to mention the rest of the Empire, did not
correspond to the patterns of social life of Galata. Additionally, many traditional households
still did not have a plumbing system at home. Hence the traditional social life was still active
in the Istanbul peninsula and as a result the majority of people depended on hamams for
hygienic, religious and social purposes. 39
When the Ottoman Empire became the Republic of Turkey, it generated new winds of
changes. The ideological reforms of the Republic, known as “six arrows”, were applied. As
during the Tanzimat, a model of Europe was a source for modernisation. Secularisation and
nationalism in particular will be studied in terms of their influence on changing cultural uses
of hamams.
39
By viewing hamams as archaic and at the same time offering no alternatives to the majority of people, shows that to some degree the elite was not realistic about general life conditions in Istanbul.
36
REFERENCES
Çelik, Z., The Remaking of Istanbul: Portrait of an Ottoman City in the Nineteenth Century,
Seattle: University of Washington Press 1986
Cichocki, N., Continuity and Change in Turkish Bathing Culture in Istanbul: The Life Story of
the Çemberlitaş Hamam, Turkish Studies, Vol.6/No.1 2005, 93-143
Karpat, K.H., Historical Continuity and Identity Change or How to be Modern Muslim, Ottoman, and Turk, in Ottoman past and today’s Turkey, ed. Karpat, K.H., Leiden: Brill 2000
Kuban, Z., Considerations on the Definition of Ottoman Architecture in the 19th Century, in
Electronic Journal of Oriental Studies, IV (2001), No.28, 1-20
Quataert, D., The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922, The United Kingdom: the University Press,
Cambridge 2000
Shaw, J.S., From Empire to Republic: The Rise and Fall of the Ottoman Empire, 1330-1918,
Vol.1. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi 2000
Shaw, J.S., Studies in Ottoman and Turkish History: Life with the Ottomans, Istanbul: the
Iris press 2000
Unat, N.A., Women in Turkish Society, Leiden: Brill 1981
37
2.2 The Republican Period (1923-Present) and Hamams: Modernisation of Turkey and Building a New Nation State
Historic Background: Towards Modernisation
After the Tanzimat edict came formally to an end, it was still enforced by Abdülhamit II (18761909). He continued yet in an authoritarian manner to maintain all reforms and furthermore
“even enlarged the scope of modernization to new fields.” (see Karpat 2000: p16). Abdülhamit II, for instance, encouraged the immigration, achieved economic advancement, introduced railroad transportation as well as established the three-level education system that
later produced the modern intelligentsia. After the death of Abdülhamit II, Turks had a disastrous decade that was marked by many wars. The World War I (1914-1918) and its aftermath exhausted Ottomans especially. The Allied forces occupied Turkey and restricted freedom of local people. Consequently, Turks resisted the Allied forces in the Turkish War for
Independence (1918-1923) led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. However the turning point that
fostered liberation with greater tenacity was the landing of Greek forces at Izmir in May 19,
1919. The Turkish War for Independence was successful for Turks: in 1923 the Republic of
Turkey was proclaimed and Atatürk became the first president of the Republic.
The Republican period, especially within its first decades, was marked with bigger changes
that sought to bring modernisation and create a modern nation state. The innovations that
Atatürk introduced to modernise the country especially in the legal, cultural and political fields
were heavily borrowed from Western European societies. (see Cohn 1970: p8) Consequently, Western systems quickly entered the life of Turks: for instance, the Gregorian calendar (1925), the international numbers (1928), the metric system (1934) and the use of last
names (1935) among others, were adopted in Turkey. All in all, the modernization of Turkey
can also be equated with westernisation that was used as a model in order to change the
Turkish society speedily. Furthermore, the essential elements for a radical transformation of
the country and its society were secularisation of Turkey and the search for national identity
that would eventually legitimise a claim to a territory. In short, the regime sought to build a
modern state.
Kemalism was an ideological reform programme led by Atatürk and adopted at the 1931
convention of the Republican People’s Party, which outlined “six arrows”: republicanism
(Cumhuriyetçilik), populism (Halkçılık), reformism (Devrimcilik), etatism (Devletçilik), nationalism (Ulusçuluk) and secularism (Laikçilik). It aimed at directing the country and its people
towards rapid modernisation. (see Kili 1969: pp80-110; see Shaw 2000: pp425-432, see
38
Altunışık and Tür 2005: p21) The last two principles of the ideology to some extent affected
the former Ottoman property, bringing about cultural changes in the use of hamams for instance and generally in society in a wider sense. Therefore the effects of nationalism and
secularism will be studied. 40
Nationalism and Hamam
Nationalism (Ulusçuluk), which has already emerged towards the end of the 19th century,
became a fundamental ideological aspect of the Republic. Furthermore, it was a priority especially among the elite to create a modern premise and claim on the territory while building
a new state. It aimed at creating a unitary nation. However it was a difficult task. Mustafa
Kemal, for instance, while proclaiming the Republic considered “’Turkishness’ as a basis of
national identity.” (see Altunışık and Tür 2005: p20) A Sunni religious heritage was also
emphasised, yet later the republican regime especially during the first decades was mostly
attached to the claim that Turkish national identity is based on ethnic nationalism. All in all,
the significance of religion was officially minimised as an authoritative agent in the Republic
of Turkey.
In order to create a unitary nation and premises for a national identity, several means were
implemented for this purpose. For instance, the Turkish Historical Society (Türk Tarih Kurumu) was established in 1930 in order to study and publicize the contribution of Turks over
the centuries. All Turks were required to attend the state secular schools, which were developed in accordance with a western model, “so as to create an basis for unity in the new Turkish society.” [sic] (Kazamias, see Shaw 2000: p427) Furthermore, as Altunışık and Tür argue, language was another important element of a nation-building, therefore the Latin alphabet was adopted in 1928 to replace the Arabic script, which became “a major break with the
past.” (Altunışık and Tür 2005: p20)
At the same time, as Cichocki argues: “The principle of nationalism affected bathhouses by
way of heritage politics” (Cichocki 2005: p104). Cichocki emphasises three distinctive attitudes of the early republican nationalist reforms on the Ottoman monument in general and on
hamams in particular. (Ibid.) First of all, hamams were viewed as unsuitable for modern life.
The republican regime even claimed that hamams are not hygienic. 41 Secondly, historic
40
The other four “arrows” of Atatürk did not affect the hamam culture, therefore they are not relevant
for the discussion in this study. Yet all six “arrows” was an entire programme of Kemalism that aimed
at leading Turkey to modernisation in general, which did not necessary induce the cultural changes in
the use of hamams.
41
A widespread opinion today, but at the same time, there was no case in history that due to lack of
hygiene in hamams, a public health was threatened.
39
baths could never receive the same status as other more magnificent imperial foundations
like mosques.
As a result, hamams were often considered unworthy for safeguarding.
Thirdly, economic difficulties, which are often a dominant reason, prevented the conservation
and preservation of historic monuments, not to mention indistinct hamams. 42
Obviously during the Republican time hamams were a victim of the new society yet a historic
argument that nationalism had an impact on the decline of hamams may not be so easily
asserted. (see chapter 2.1 on discussions that during the Tanzimat Edict there was discontinuity in history from the Ottoman-Islamic past) The changes in the society, new interests
and responsibilities should also be indicated. For instance, baths at home made it easier for
Turks to perform religious ablution or to wash for hygienic reasons whenever it was necessary or wished. Additionally, more and more women had jobs and therefore had less time for
socialising in hamams. Hamams were undermined as a social institution, but the reasons for
decline in hamam use cannot be too directly connected to nationalistic politics.
Secularism and Hamam
Secularism (Laikçilik) was probably the most shocking reform of Atatürk, which became an
indispensable means to implement modernisation plans. Islam was part of state legitimacy
and identity of the Ottoman Empire, but was excluded while building a new national identity
of the modern Turkish state. (see Altunışık and Tür 2005: p21) Therefore the state separated religion from education, culture and other legal affairs. It continued to implement more
drastic secularisation programme: the regime abolished Caliphate in 1924 43 and Islam was
constituted as the state religion in 1928. In short, secularism disconnected religion from the
nation’s daily life, which was made a matter of private affair. The Republic of Turkey remains
neutral in religious issues. 44 Furthermore, the principle of secularism provided new orientation to the whole social framework as well as altered the capital’s and Turkey’s urban fabric.
As it was during the Tanzimat reforms, for instance, during 20th century the regime tried to
replace the religious public spaces like the mosques, medreses and hamams. Thus secularised social spaces were rapidly built: parks, Atatürk’s statues, school squares, for instance,
that aimed to become the focal points for the modern society.
Additionally, secularisation changed the administrative context of hamams and other endowment properties. A changing ownership of the vakıf started already in the last decades
42
See the accounts of art historian Ahmet Süheyl Ünver (1898-1986) about the threats and damages
of Ottoman monuments and Istanbul hamams. (Cichocki 2005: p105)
43
Caliphate is the supreme spiritual leader of Sunni Muslims worldwide.
44
The medium of the Ministry for Religious Affairs is responsible for the religious management of all
Sunni Muslims in Turkey.
40
of the 18th century. The Ministry of Supervision of Imperial Endowments (Evkaf-ı Hümayun
Nezareti) at the time of foundation in 18th century had a chief objective “…to create a framework to channel vakıf revenue into the near –empty state coffers instead of into the endowments” in order to improve financial problems of the Empire. (Cichocki 2005: p100) 45
The
ministry started to broadly use the system of Double Rent (icareteyn) to attract people to rent
endowment properties. 46 Later during the Republican regime the administration of all vakıfs
came into hands of the Prime Ministry (Vakıflar Umum Müdürlüğü). In accordance with the
Law of 1936, the imperial monuments became a private possession whereby the practice of
Double Rent was consequently abolished.
Therefore hamams were sold off or
“…demolished under different pretenses [pretext] in order to make room for apartment buildings and streets.” (Cichocki 2005: p104) At the same time, different owners had different
responsibilities, treatment and management styles, which induced further damages on
hamams. (see chapter 4.2)
Social Changes and Hamam
Despite fairly rapid modernisation, the deeper social changes occurred in 1950s (Karpat, see
Cichocki 2005: p106). During the first decades of the Republic, not everyone however could
afford living in the apartment blocks with utilities of comfort and domestic water supply. Thus
many Istanbul inhabitants were still in need of and depended on public bathhouses. The
mahalle hamams were especially crucial public places for people. (see also chapter 3.2.2
about hamam tourism by local inhabitants) More rich people, on the other hand side, moved
to neighbourhoods like Şişli and Nişantaşı. The new flats contained bathrooms, therefore
one could easily perform ablution at home and wash for cleanliness when necessary. As a
result, hamams for hygienic and religious reasons became redundant. Furthermore, the elite
and now also the middle class abandoned the religious norms of gender segregation, which
already started in the 19th century. Due to this hamams, a segregated site for sociability became less attractive and obsolete for secularised customers. (see Cichocki 2005: p103)
Furthermore, women during the Republican period became more emancipated and, at the
same time, had jobs outside the household. Kemal Atatürk had a radical idea to change the
status of Turkish women. Women were encouraged to have equality with men by participating in politics, taking responsibilities in families and society as well as seeking education and
45
Vakıf is charitable endowment based on Islamic law.
The system of Double Rent (icareteyn) existing since the 16th century became a widely adapted
practice. It means that one can rent a property by paying a ‘lump sum’ for the period of 200-300
years and the other sum would be paid every month or year as a reminder that the property still belongs to sultan. As a result the Double Rent system ...paved the way for private ownership of former
endowed property in the twentieth century.” (Ibid) (Cichocki 2005: p100)
46
41
opportunities to find better paid and more interesting jobs. 47 In bigger cities due to education
factor the emancipation of women also came to the professional arena. Therefore many
women started to work in the area of academia, art as well as in managerial positions. 48 The
new career possibilities left women less time for participating in longer traditional events in
hamams.
Furthermore, participation in a broader public life influenced other socialising
manners and demands of how to spend their leisure time. It is possible that hamams, due to
this, became not so attractive as a place for socialising and hygiene.
Conclusions
While during the Ottoman period, since the conquest of Constantinople till about 18th century,
hamam proliferated and was in its peak, later the significance of public bathhouses fluctuated
due to modernization, new course of politics as well as social transformation. Certainly there
was one part of society during the Atatürk’s Turkey, especially within the first decades of the
Republic, for whom public bathhouses became ‘archaic’, not ‘stylish’ places thus not worthy
to safeguard or at least to treat as an important social and monumental ensemble that indicated the Ottoman-Islamic identity. As a result, many hamams were demolished in Istanbul.
The other part of society nonetheless depended on public bathhouses and especially in mahalle it was still a lively and an important social space.
With the advent of tourism, new transformations of cultural practices in Turkey in general and
in hamams in particular were induced. Part III of this thesis attempts to study the factor of
tourism as a new source for such a change. Finally, the methods for hamam conservation
will be suggested.
REFERENCES
Altunışık, M.B. and Tür Ö., Turkey:
Challenges of Continuity and Change, London:
Routledge 2005
Cichocki, N., Continuity and Change in Turkish Bathing Culture in Istanbul: The Life Story of
the Çemberlitaş Hamam, Turkish Studies, Vol.6/No.1 2005, 93-143
47
In 2002 January Turkish men are no longer regarded in law as head of the family. The move gives
women full legal equality with men, 66 years after women's rights were put on the statute books.
48
Unat, for instance, highlights that during 1960s “of all the Moslem countries, Turkey has so far produced the highest number of educated women on all levels.” (Unat 1981: p26) As a result, she
thinks, education promoted Turkish women to occupy high post like, for instance, in the jurisdiction.
42
Cohn, J.E., Turkish Economic, Social, and Political Change: the Development of a More
Prosperous and Open Society, New York: Praeger Publishers 1970
Karpat, K.H., Historical Continuity and Identity Change or How to be Modern Muslim, Ottoman, and Turk, in Ottoman Past and Today’s Turkey, ed. Karpat, K.H., Leiden: Brill 2000
Kili, S., Kemalism, Istanbul: Menteş Matbaasi 1969
Shaw, J.S., Studies in Ottoman and Turkish History: Life with the Ottomans, Istanbul: the
Iris press 2000
Unat, N.A., Women in Turkish Society, Leiden: Brill 1981
43
3 Significance of Tourism and Hamams
3.1 Travellers and the Orient: Representation of Turkish Baths through the First
Travellers’ Accounts (17th-19th Centuries)
This chapter will overview the first contacts with Turkish baths by Western travellers who are
the predecessors of the present-day tourists. It serves to show how the ‘orientalistic gaze’ on
hamams of Western societies during 17th –19th centuries shapes the image of this institution,
which eventually leads to (mass) tourism industry promotion of today.
Visual perception is the most powerful human sense that shapes and controls the reality of
the world. John Urry, for instance, in the book The Tourist Gaze (2002) and the paper Mobile Cultures (last revised 2003) indicates ‘gaze’ of the eye as the main source that mirrors a
tourist’s experience while travelling. 49 However this gaze is not ‘individual’ but rather depends “upon a variety of social discourses and practices (…) by photographers, writers of
travel books and guides, travel agents, hotel owners and designers, tour operators, travel
programmes on TV, tourism development officers, architects and so on.” (Ibid. p3) The
‘gaze’ of the outsider depends on a variety of social reasons that construct knowledge and
nature of travel of what is worth seeing at a destination and what is not. Therefore tourism
practices and tourists’ ‘gaze’ are linked to each other and these are in fact constantly changing depending upon “transformations in how people gaze and in what people expect to gaze
upon (Urry 1990).” (Ibid., p3)
Historically ‘gaze’ upon Eastern cultures in particular started to gain an increasing attention
from the West during European imperialism in 18th-19th centuries. Eastern cultures that are
depicted by artists, writers and designers are conventionally named oriental. Edward Said
wrote: “The Orient was almost a European invention, and had been since antiquity a place
of romance, exotic beings, haunting memories and landscapes, remarkable experience.”
(Said 1994: p1) Orientalism is a constructed concept by the West, which the West itself
made romantic and exotic. However, Said describes the term ‘orientalism’ as having a rather
negative connotation because of prejudice of the Western cultures while interpreting the
East. As a famous remark made by Karl Marx about the Orient, for example, speaks for itself
about the power relationship between the East and the West: “Sie können sich nicht vertreten, sie müssen vertreten werden.“ (Marx, see Said 1994: p21) The ‘orientalistic gaze’ of
the first travellers during 17th –19th centuries also highlights a valid knowledge that Europe49
See http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/sociology/papers/Urry-Mobile-Cultures.pdf, p3.
44
ans think they have about the East. Yet, at the same time, it influenced and shaped the view
upon Oriental part of the world.
In the 16th century there was a global development, which was associated with European
aristocracy. It was the so-called grand tour that saw its peak during 18th and 19th centuries
and can be described as a kind of education of noblemen and middle class young people
usually undertaken after completing university studies. A typical grand tour included such
destinations as Paris, Florence, Rome, Venice, Amsterdam and Vienna among others. The
other route that became especially popular during the European imperialism in 18th – 19th
centuries is the Oriental East where people travelled for the sake of education as well as for
political and military purposes.
George Sandys, an English traveller and poet, wrote one of the first accounts about the Ottoman Empire and Turkish baths. He started a grand tour in 1610 first visiting France, Italy,
Constantinople and later other Oriental countries like Egypt and Palestine. George Sandys’
impression and observation of his trips were published in 1615, and these are also regarded
as a contribution to the science of geography and ethnology. The traveller’s accounts on
Turkish baths are not extensive in length and information. Mainly three things can be traced
from his letters. Firstly, he said that hamam usually stands next to the mosque, which indicates the usual location of a bath in the Ottoman urban space as a part of külliye. Secondly,
Sandys declared the reasons people go bathing, which is “for their health, as for delight and
cleanliness”. (Sandys 1973: p69) The third observation is curious as he wrote: “Much unnatural and filthie lust is said to be committed daily in the remote closets of these darksome
Bannia: yea women with women; a thing uncredible.” [sic] (Ibid.) The speculation of Sandys
delivered the first erotic allusion about Turkish baths to the Western society.
The other writer who depicted hamams was Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. She accompanied
her husband Edward Wortley Montagu in 1716 to Constantinople where he was appointed as
an ambassador. They stayed in the Ottoman Empire till 1718. Lady Mary vividly depicted
her observations of Eastern life in a series of letters, which later inspired Orientalistic arts
and other female travellers and writers. Lady Mary’s letters on Turkish lifestyle were collected into what is now knows as Embassy to Constantinople Letters or as Lady Mary
Wortley Montagu: Her Life and Letter (1689-1762) that was published in 1763 after her
death.
At the time when she wrote her accounts about Constantinople, hamam was still not well
known to the Western society as she mentioned it in one of the letters to a friend of her. (see
45
Montagu 1988: p98) What comes forth in Lady Mary’s letters is that she with a certain
amount of self-irony and wit is open to follow and learn about the Turkish hamam traditions.
Furthermore, she admired Turkish women who were as she found out polite, friendly and
hospitable to strangers contrary, as she added, to the Western European court. (see Melville
1925: p127-130) Lady Montagu also declared on the liberty of Turkish women (see Montagu
1988: p189) as well as praises many of them for their gracefulness and beauty of body
shapes, finest and softest skin, which was, as she believed, due to their frequent bathing.
Lady Montagu wrote that hamams were the only public place for Turkish women that eventually became as “the women’s coffee-house, where all the news of the town is told, scandal
invented.” (Melville 1925: p127-130) In short, hamam was an important public space for Ottoman women who went there once a week and enjoyed bathing at least four or five hours.
(see Ibid.)
Regarding architecture of hamam, Lady Montagu described it as a domed building, which is
made of stone. The first, undressing room has no windows except on the roof. One can also
find fountains and marble sofas in the first room. A hot room is also domed. It contains a tap
of cold water that each woman could turn as much as she likes to reach a temperature she
wants. (see Melville 1925: p127-130)
The accounts of Turkish baths by Lady Mary certainly inspired orientalistic artists and other
travellers to visit this truly women institution. For instance, about a century later Lady Mary’s
orientalistic travelling accounts inspired Ingres’ painting Le Bain Turc in 1862, which shows
many fine women embracing and thus, at the same time, promotes eroticism of the place.
(see Fig. 22) By the same token, it is interesting to note that mainly western Orientalist but
not the “Orients” themselves produced almost all paintings depicting hamams.
Lady Elizabeth Craven who was an English writer and traveller had an opposite view on
Turkish baths and women. After separating from her husband she made a voyage to Italy,
Austria, Poland, Russia, Turkey and Greece. Lady Craven published the series of letters into
the collection known as Journey through the Crimea to Constantinople in 1789. In her accounts she was not fond of Turkish baths and women. In Lady Craven’s opinion most of the
women in Turkish baths were fat, hardly any had “fair skins or fine form” (see Craven 1880:
p381-383) and furthermore “these women at nineteen look older (since) the frequent use of
hot baths destroys the solids” (see Ibid., pp332-333). In short, Lady Craven found it a disgusting sight of being surrounded by fat and naked women in a very hot bath, which was not
good, as she believed, for women’s physical appearance. In addition to that, Lady Craven
46
did not understand why hamams for women are an important platform for social reasons.
She was quick to declare that it is a ‘strange pastime!’ (Ibid.)
Yet in her letters she provided some details about hamam as architecture and hamam as a
social space. First Lady Craven observed that the room where women bathed was circular
with niches. Furthermore it was “a very fine room with a stone dome – and the light came
through small window at the top.” (Ibid. p381-383) With regards to hamams as a social
space, Lady Craven explained that women came to this place for amusement where “they
stay generally five hours in them”. (Ibid.) The day Lady Craven came to hamam she found
more than fifty women bathing, which indicates that the baths at this time were a lively social
place for the women of the neighbourhood.
The last traveller’s account considered here is by Helmuth von Moltke, who was a young
captain at the time when after a short stay in Constantinople was requested by Sultan Mahmud II to modernise the Ottoman army. He stayed in the Ottoman Empire for four years and
subsequently wrote some letters about his accounts in Turkey that later were published as
Unter dem Halbmond: Erlebnisse in der alten Türkei 1835-1839 and were well received by
the readers at that time. The famous comment made by Moltke and later used in some
newspaper and magazine advertisements is about thorough washing as one can expect in
hamam: “Das ist allerdings eine gründliche Reinigung, und man möchte sagen, daß man
noch nie gewaschen gewesen ist, bevor man nicht ein türkisches Bad genommen.” (Moltke
1984: p60) He also added that baths are good for relaxation and helps against tiredness
„ein solches Bad auf große Ermüdung wirkt.“ (p61) Moltke in his letters provided detailed
account on the procedure of bathing in Turkish hamam from the first procedure when the
attendant shows where to undress to the final procedure when the tellak does washing and
gives a rub on his client. After all procedures, as Moltke wrote, men rest in the first room of
hamam while drinking tea, coffee, sherbet (non alcoholic cold drink) or simply smoking a
pipe.
The European travellers and writers during 17th –19th centuries were the kind of forefathers of
the tourists of today that promoted relatively unknown hamams to Western societies. The
‘orientalistic gaze’ projected the Western perspective and knowledge on hamam, which was,
for instance, made an erotic and exotic experience for the West. Yet it is obvious that social
meanings attached to Turkish baths were not always well understood to the outsider especially by so-called experts of the Oriental countries. Hence the ‘gaze’ can also become superficial when the visual sense is given a free rein and the reality of the world is perceived for
47
granted. 50 Yet, the accounts of the Western travellers about hamams give a deeper understanding of this institution in Turkish culture especially when the outsider participates in some
traditional ceremonies in the baths.
At the same time, the ‘gaze’ on hamams continues through tourism sector and new means of
representation through films, travel guides and other popular media. Semiotic theoretical
approach will serve as a basis to understand why people want to see particular sightseeing
places while travelling. The following chapter will examine tourism from theoretical point of
view as well as discuss the role of tourism in Turkey and Istanbul.
REFERENCES
Craven, E., A Journey Through the Crimea to Constantinople, Vienna: Bookfeller 1880
Melville, L., Lady Mary Wortley Montagu: Her Life and Letters (1689-1762), London: Hutchinson & Co. Paternoster Row 1925
Said, E., Orientalism, New York: Vintage Books 1994
Sandys, G., Description of the Turkish Empire: London 1616 Netherlands: Theatrum Orbis
Terrarum Ltd 1973
Von Moltke, H., Unter dem Halbmond: Erlebnis in der alten Türkei 1835-1839, Stuttgart:
Erdmann in K. Thienemanns Verlag 1984
Montagu Lady, M. (introduced by Dervla Murphy), Embassy to Constantinople: The Travel of
lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Ed. Pick, Ch., London: Hutchinson Ltd 1988
Urry, J., Mobile Cultures, in http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/sociology/papers/Urry-MobileCultures.pdf, site visited in October 12, 2005
50
See http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/sociology/papers/Urry-Mobile-Cultures.pdf, p5.
48
3.2 Tourism and Tourism Role in Turkey and Istanbul
3.2.1 What is Tourism: a Theoretical Approach
United Nations World Tourism Organization (UN WTO) defines tourism and travel as “…the
activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not
more than one consecutive year for leisure, business, and other purposes.” 51 It is a phenomenon that basically involves a trip outside the place of a routine character and more or
less relates three different aspects: the movement of people, the economy sector and a
broad system of interacting between people.
(see Goeldner and Ritchie 2003:
p7;
Chadwick, see Page 2003: p9) It is also recognised that tourism activities can fall into two
main categories: mass tourism and sustainable tourism.
Mass Tourism
Tourism became an international mass phenomenon after World War II and especially during
the 1970s. The post-war prosperity and rising income of people, innovation in transport
technology and standardised holiday packages that combined accommodation and transport
were important conditions for global travel to become accessible to the developed world.
Mass tourism, as Urry suggests, became a ‘collective consumption’ that one can find in
crowded places like beaches, bars and shopping malls. (see Urry 1995) Burkart and Medlik
define mass tourism as “essentially a quantitative notion, based on the proportion of the
population participating in tourism or on the volume of tourist activity.” (1974: p42) For instance, seasonal tourist places like seaside areas are especially vulnerable due to spatial
concentration of people during a short period of time. In Turkey more than 70% of international tourists come between May and October. Seasonality is also marked in other South
European countries like Greece, Croatia or Cyprus. (see Bramwell 2004: p10) The specific
condition of seasonal tourism that is limited to coastal area induces mass tourism.
However, others add that mass tourism has a negative outcome to the economic vitality of
the host country and encourages social and spatial inequality. For instance, a problem of
income leakage is often highlighted in developing countries. (see Bramwell 2004: p12) Income leakage is money that does not stay in local country’s economy but goes to international companies, the airlines, hotels and foreign tour operators. Another problem of mass
tourism especially in developing countries is that local workers are often of low levels, badly
51
See http://www.world-tourism.org/sustainable/doc/a21-def.pdf
49
paid and therefore employed flexibly according to the current demands and situation of tourism. Therefore, this fosters social inequality and dissatisfaction between local low-wage
workers and foreign international industries that conduct tourism business in less developed
countries.
The other category of tourism development namely the sustainable is a quite new phenomenon that academics and practitioners of tourism started to broadly use in the beginning of
1990s. Sustainable tourism is often put into polar opposite to the category of mass tourism.
Additionally, sustainable tourism is influenced by the concept of sustainable development
that was around already for several decades. These two concepts of sustainability as well as
the complexity of this concept will be studied in chapter 4.1.
Two types of tourism will be discussed in this paper since it can be applied to hamam tourism
in Istanbul: cultural tourism and health tourism. This will be touched on again the final chapter where methods of sustainable conservation will be suggested.
Cultural Tourism
United Nations World Tourism Organization (former abbreviation WTO), for instance, defines
cultural tourism as movement of people for essentially cultural reasons. It can include study
tours, performing arts, visits to historic monuments and sites attending events like operas
and festivals, cultural tours as well as folklore and pilgrimage. (see WTO, 1985 in Clarke)
Hence in a broad level cultural tourism means discovering material and immaterial culture
and people’s way of life with the intention to learn.
Still cultural tourism is a more complex concept, which is not pointed out in WTO definition
therefore it can make this terminology rather confused. Hence the term ‘culture’ has to be
explained. Jenks remarked that the word ‘culture’ is conventionally related to the idea of
‘civilization’ within European linguistics. These two concepts became synonymous, therefore
both ideas are used confusingly to show the opposite of what is vulgar, ignorant and backward. (see Jenks 1993: p9) Yet as it was studied, for instance, in the concept of culture by
Lévi-Strauss, the idea of culture is relative, therefore all societies have their own way of development contributing with special creativity and originality to other human cultures of the
World. (see chapter 1.1) Hence, applying this approach, on one hand, it is understood that
different societies construct the same definition with different meanings and, on the other
hand, it means cultural tourism should also recognize the ‘vulgar’ and the ‘backward’. Furthermore, as a French ethnologist Leiris highlighted, culture cannot be treated in isolation.
50
(see chapter 1) Therefore cultural tourism induces a dynamic process of culture that influences both the local people and the tourist respectively. As a result showing the complexity
of cultural tourism concept challenges a comfortable definition proposed by WTO.
Health Tourism
As for health tourism, it is commonly defined as a type of tourism that seeks to improve one’s
physical condition, offers healing and relaxation but also keeps a spiritual and body balance.
UNESCO World Heritage Review journal says that a spa or health tourism in Western
Europe started to be popular among the elite in the 18th century. Rodwell states that “Bathing
in the thermal spring water and drinking them was one of the entertainments of eighteenthcentury Bath” while writing about the famous city of Bath, England, the World Heritage site.
(p45) It is understood that health tourism is a form of pleasure that is historically reserved for
more privileged social groups.
Medical and health tourism is in particular rapidly growing in so-called developing countries
like India, Thailand, Hungary and Mexico that are mostly visited by the tourists from the industrial Western countries. Turkey, for instance, is among the top 7 countries in the world in
term of its geothermal capacity. The country promotes thermal health tourism in Izmir,
Denizli, Bursa and many other places of Turkey. 52
The rise of this relatively new trend has several reasons, which is indicated in the article by
Hutchinson. 53 Firstly, the real attraction is price. For instance, the cost for surgery in Indian,
Thailand or South Africa can be one-tenth less than that in the Western Europe and the
United States.
To be more specific on monetary issue, a heart-valve replacement cost
$200.000 or even more, compared with India where the same procedure costs $10.000 including round-trip costs and a brief holiday package. Secondly, the health-care system is
often overburdened in the West so that sometimes it can take years to get needed treatment.
For instance, in Britain and Canada, a patient can wait a year or more for hip replacement,
yet in Bangkok or Bangalore, one can be on the operating table soon, sometimes the day
after a patient gets off the plain. At the same time, there is a sceptical view that in the cheap
developing countries medical care is inferior to that in the West. Yet Hutchinson makes an
argument that the hospitals and clinics that are designated to the tourist market are not
worse in their service. Many of staff members of these clinics and hospitals are trained at
major medical centres in the United States and Europe. If an experience is a valid indicator,
in India, for example, in Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre in Delhi and Faridabad
52
53
See http://newspot.byegm.gov.tr/2006/february/ns14.htm
See http://www.udel.edu/PR/UDaily/2005/mar/tourism072505.html
51
perform about 15,000 surgeries every year and the death rate among the patients who had
surgery is only 0.8% and as Hutchinson indicates it is less than half compared to the major
hospitals in the United States.
However health tourism does not necessary mean to always have treatment cheaper and
faster in developing countries. For instance, Germany is one of the top countries in Europe
that offer service at their spas and health resorts like Baden-Baden, Obersdorf or Wiesbaden
to domestic and international tourists. The success of Germany health tourism can be seen
in general increase of arrivals, which was around 12 mln in 2004 and 1.1% higher than the
previous year. Furthermore, the average stay in spa resort was doubled from 2.9 days to 5.5
days. In addition to increase in health tourism in Germany in terms of value, there is one
more trend observed: up to 70% of tourists fund the treatment and stay in many health resorts on their own instead of being funded by their health insurance. 54 It is such target group
the German spas and health resorts are aiming to attract: people who are willing to pay for
the quality of service. Hence, more and more people give their health as well as the quality
of service an increasingly bigger priority for what they are also willing to pay a higher price
whereas German spas and health resorts offer their highly developed infrastructure, tailormade products and professional approach to marketing. It might be also assumed there is a
tendency that people from developed countries with their high standard of life are emphasising health, too, as a high priority.
To sum up, developing countries become desirable health destination for the people from the
affluent West because of the favourable global economic, transport and social conditions.
However, health tourism is not limited only on the trend of looking for cheap as well as qualitative treatment in the Third World countries. As the example of Germany shows, as one of
the leading countries’ in Europe in terms of spa and health resort, people are willing to pay
for good quality even if it is more expensive than in other developing countries. However,
health tourism is a niche that is targeted at more privileged social groups.
3.2.2 Tourism in Turkey and Istanbul
Tourism is one of the most important industries in the developing countries, which is often
seen as a cheap and easy opportunity to earn foreign currency, create jobs for local people
and to improve economy in general terms. Yet, at the same time, tourism in developing
countries is often encouraged without a proper strength and weakness, opportunities and
54
See http://www.visit-germany.jp/pdf/bedeutung04_e.pdf
52
threat (SWOT) analysis of the place before allocating large amount of already scarce resources into this industry. By the same token, Turkish government and business sector as
well as many other developing countries put high expectations in tourism, which is viewed as
a powerful generator to boost economic growth of a country, as a source for long-term employment and foreign exchange. In the case of Turkey, an overwhelming economic crisis
started in the late 1970s and an export-promotion economy was viewed as a solution for a
country. (see Tosun 1999: p219) As a result, tourism was accepted as an important instrument of policy to improve Turkey’s macro-economic. Hence the government adopted the
Tourism Encouragement Law No 2634 that aimed to bring quick and easy economic benefits
to Turkey from international inbound tourism.
In general tourism in Turkey grows rapidly in terms of volume. As World Tourism Organization indicated in Tourism Highlights 2005 edition, 13.3 million international tourists visited
Turkey in 2003 and 16,8 million in 2004, which made this country an emerging holiday destination in the world. 55 Additionally, there are some other high expectations about the future of
tourism in Turkey like one declared by Atilla Koç, Minister of Tourism and Culture, which is to
host as much as 26 million tourists in 2006 that would sky-rocket tourism growth in Turkey by
almost 100% in 3 years. 56 This rapid tourist flow can accurately be summarised in the words
of Mustafa Isen, Tourism Ministry Undersecretary, who has remarked, “Turkish public got
used to increasing tourism statistics.” (Ibid.)
Furthermore, Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also stresses in the press
meeting in 2004 organized with Ministry of Culture and Tourism that tourism plays an increasingly important role in terms of value and volume. One of the objectives of government’s plan, which is highlighted in their “Tourism vision of Turkey for 2010 and 2nd Action
Period” for the period of 2006-2010, is to increase tourism revenues up to 18 billion and 30
billion dollars by 2006 and 2010 respectively. Furthermore, the government also assumes
that by 2010 about 3 million people will work in the tourism sector in Turkey. 57 Hence it highlights the current important role of tourism in Turkey that is evaluated in a vision of numbers
in this case.
However, the contribution of inbound international tourism to the Turkish economy and the
country’s sustainable development in general has been exaggerated as Tosun points out in
his article. (see Tourism Economics 1999: pp217-250) There is no doubt that tourism in
55
See http://www.world-tourism.org/facts/menu.html
See http://newspot.byegm.gov.tr/2006/february/ns14.htm
57
See the whole document in
http://www.kultur.gov.tr/EN/BelgeGoster.aspx?17A16AE30572D313F88F742D0D711251703CD5909
8841715
56
53
Turkey grew rapidly in terms of volume, e.g. 614,876 tourists arrived in Turkey in 1975
whereas in 1998 it reached 9,200,000. Yet it is not enough if one compares the same data
with the other main European tourist destinations and the main rivals of Turkey like Spain,
Greece and Portugal. Even though Turkish tourism grew significantly, i.e. 15 times in 23
years, still the number of arrivals of international tourists to Turkey is smaller than in the
above-mentioned tourism competing countries (e.g. ca. 11mln. international tourists arrived
to Greece, 11,8mln. to Portugal and 47.7mln. to Spain in 1998). The same is with international tourism receipt, for example in Spain, the average receipts between 1975 and 1998 is
5 times larger than in Turkey despite both countries having similar tourism potential. (see
Ibid., p222) Therefore, tourism did not grow much in terms of value in Turkey if one compares performance with neighbouring European countries and the main rivals in tourism.
The other issue that Tosun points out is employment created through tourism development,
which is also not satisfactory enough. For example, the share of employment in tourism sector was 9,1% in Spain, 5,6% in Portugal, 10% in Greece and only 0,7% in Turkey. (see Ibid.,
p227) Furthermore, the quality of jobs created by tourism industry should be also taken into
account since it gives a better insight regarding the contribution of tourism to the country’s
economy. Usually it is low productivity jobs for corresponding low wages. Moreover, employment in tourism sector is often risky based on seasonality especially in the countries that
do not develop alternative tourism offers but rather concentrate on popular seaside tourism.
Additionally, developing countries often do not provide social welfare services and security
like unemployment benefits, child benefits or health insurance hence low-rank labour force is
nevertheless excluded from real benefits of development. Furthermore, the local investors in
tourism are often on the later stage replaced by large foreign or non-domestic capital and
consequently it brings social inequality and dissatisfaction among local people. (see Butler
1980) It usually happens because local people lack education that is necessary to operate
large tourism industry, although they do not have any legal limitations to open tourism business. As a result the locals are squeezed out from being the main generators and beneficiaries of tourism establishment and pushed to secondary roles becoming cheap labour force.
This situation leads to social inequality and unsustainable development of a region.
Finally Tosun emphasises that revenue left in Turkey from the international tourists is rather
overoptimistic as assumed by Turkish government. For example, the Ministry of Tourism of
Turkey estimated that 49% of the revenue from the package tours to Turkey organised by
foreign operators stays in Turkey. Yet leakage of money must be higher if one compares it
with other countries. For example, even 58% of the package price of a package holiday in
Spain never reaches the country when foreign tourists travel by plane from their country of
54
origin. In some African countries the leakage of money is as high as 80%. Even though it is
difficult to accurately calculate revenue that stays in the country of tourist destination, yet, as
Tosun suggests, the proportion of money that is received by Turkey should be less than a
corresponding figure in Spain and larger than that in some African countries since Turkey’s
economic development is lower than Spain and higher than of the African countries. (see
Ibid., p234) In addition to that, Turkey’s geographical location is relatively distant from the
main tourist-generating countries, therefore additional proportion of money for an inclusive
package tour goes to the charter flights and so never reaches Turkey.
Furthermore, with the Encouragement of Tourism Law No. 2634 the Turkish government is
obviously targeting at mass tourism, which would bring the maximum foreign currency and
maximum number of tourists in a short run. (see Tosun, Timothy, Öztürk 2004: p96) On one
hand, the Turkish government chose coastal tourism as the main type for attracting foreign
tourist to Turkey and, on the other hand, foreign tour operators, too, put an image of Turkey
as a cheap seaside destination, the image that is presently hard to get rid of. Kerimoğlu and
Çıraklı also indicate popularity of “sea, sand and sun” tourism in their academic work “European Travel Behaviour in Istanbul and Turkey”. They estimate “70% of tourism realized at
the coastal lines.” 58 Tosun, Timothy and Öztürk agree with it as they add: “The Turkish experience suggests that the development of tourism can be biased towards the uneven distribution of natural and cultural resources/attractions.” (2004: p101) Thus the sun, sea and
sand coastal tourism became the dominant feature of tourism development in Turkey and
“non-coastal parts of the country have been ignored in tourism development.” (Ibid.)
Furthermore, the dominant form of tourism ‘sun, sea and sand’ is distributed among more
developed regions of Turkey at Mediterranean and Aegean coasts. Tosun, Timothy, Öztürk
suggest several reasons for that. First, the more developed area has already existing infrastructure, therefore it is more likely that less investment is necessary. As a result, it is more
attractive to the administrators to start developing tourism there since one can see the benefits more quickly. Second, practitioners of tourism and the local government in the more developed areas have bigger political power to influence the distribution of money for tourism
sector. Often it happens that short-sighted perspective and quick benefits have a priority
over underdeveloped regions, which means to invest seems unprofitable at least in a shorter
perspective. Finally, less developed regions of East and Southeast Anatolia had political
unrest ushered by the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), therefore it discouraged the potential
tourism operators to invest into the region for security reasons. 59 Despite the attacks by PKK
58
II.Tourism Council 2002, see http://www.ersa.org/ersaconfs/ersa04/PDF/410.pdf, p4.
A current wave of bomb attacks highlights a prevailing instability in the country. At the end of August of 2006 attacks targeted civilians in holiday’s resorts of Marmaris and Antalya. It caused the
59
55
declining, there is still lack of confidence to promote tourism in the East and Southeast Anatolia. (see Ibid., pp103-104)
As a result, this intricate political-economic background as well as tourism sector encouraged
imbalance in terms of regional and social sustainable development although, at the same
time, it should be acknowledged that tourism alone is not entirely responsible for unsustainable development of the country. (see chapter 4.1) For instance, the statistics show that
“91% of Turkey’s international tourists visited the most developed regions, and 96% of the
nights spent by foreign visitors in 1997 and 2000 were in these regions” rather than underdeveloped interior regions. (Tosun, Timothy, Öztürk 2004: p97) The regional distribution of
tourism labour in 1993 was also located in the most developed regions of Marmara, Aegean
and Mediterranean. Furthermore, the calculation on the Human Development Index (HDI)
conducted by United Nation Development Programme (UNEP) indicated that HDI decreases
significantly from the West Turkey to East Turkey and southeast of the country in general.
(see Ibid., p100)
Anyhow at the end of 1990s, for instance, there were some efforts made by the central government of Turkey to diminish disparity in the country. The Ministry of Tourism put forward
the GAP Tourism Development Plan in 1998. Nevertheless Tosun, Timothy and Öztürk are
not convinced about its success. Even though the regional development plan may reduce
regional inequality, yet it is still a question whether it can “decrease the gaps among social
classes within the region if deliberate policies and measures are not taken.” (see Ibid., p105)
Consequently wider policies must be offered and implemented in order to overcome deeper
socio-political problems that may have been rooted in Turkey geographically and historically.
Finally, there is one more danger that Korca emphasises: “In countries such as Turkey,
where tourism is a significant instrument in development, the importance of environmental
understanding has frequently been under-emphasised in tourism development decision
(Korca 1991: p121).” (Hunter, Green 1996) It can be studied in the government’s tourism
vision for Turkey for 2010 announced by the Prime Minister of Turkey Erdoğan that some
goals of tourism promotion in Turkey can cause environmental problems. This vision includes a number of projects designed to raise revenue and the number of tourists by improving infrastructure and promoting culture and nature of Turkey to their foreign visitors in a sustainable way. Unfortunately, the reality and the approaches towards sustainable tourism can
be misleading at the same time. For instance, Mr. Erdoğan announced a plan to build new
loss of 3 lives and around 50 people were injured. A few weeks later in Diyarbakır, mainly Kurdish
city in southeast of Turkey, another wave of bomb blasting killed 10 and around 15 people were injured.
56
golf centres and accommodation hotels in Cappadocia, the World Heritage Site. 60 Apparently golf tourism is an important way of leisure in Turkey, despite the fact that big golf places
can cause environmental problems since a huge amount of water and chemical fertilisers
need to be used, especially in the region of dry climate and water deficit like in Central Anatolia. The similar plans and high cost paid on account of the environment are observed in
other countries, too.
The report of UNEP (the United Nation Environment Programme)
speaks for itself: an average golf course in Thailand needs 1500kg of fertilisers and water as
much as 60,000 villagers can consume per one year. 61 As it was already discussed while
implementing tourism in a particular region, cost and benefit should be analysed before some
development steps are made.
Whereas coastal tourism in Turkey is preferred by the foreign visitors as well as highly promoted by the government and foreign tourism operators, tourism market in Istanbul is in decline, as noted by practitioners of tourism: “the share of Istanbul from the international tourism market was 0.35%, it share in Mediterranean based hosting 10 million tourists every year
was 2%.” (TURSAB 2002, see Ibid., p7) This puts Istanbul into a doubtful position. Despite
its very special position in terms of its great geographical location, historic background, cultural and natural assets, potential of Istanbul as a tourist destination is not used efficiently.
Indeed Istanbul has a big potential for cultural tourism. Dean MacCannell, for instance, using
a semiotic approach explains the motivations of tourists to travel. He highlights a hypothesis
that there is a codified route, which is viewed as “a collective sense that certain sights must
be seen” (MacCannell 1976: p42) While visiting a foreign country a tourist looks for a cultural
sign that would exemplify a typical scene of a visited country: “the tourists, are fanning out in
search of the signs of Frenchness, typical Italian behavior, exemplary Oriental scenes, typical American thruways, traditional English pubs.” (see Culler 1981: p127) Istanbul abounds
with cultural signs from Ottoman and Byzantine times. Hamams, for instance, are one of
such cultural signs of Turkey where one can learn about people’s traditions, architecture and
history. (see chapter 1.2) The travellers already in the 17th century were first to ‘gaze’ at
this institution with a special curiosity and interest. (see chapter 3.1) Currently tourism is
inducing a special cultural ‘gaze’ on hamams to continue. Furthermore, through famous tourist guides, oriental writings and other means of representation nowadays, cultural meanings
of Turkey and hamams are displayed as the typical symbols of “Turkishness” and “Orientalism”. As semiotic theoretical approach shows, hamams attract many tourists for its special
60
See
http://www.kultur.gov.tr/EN/BelgeGoster.aspx?17A16AE30572D313F88F742D0D711251703CD5909
8841715
61
See http://www.unep.fr/pc/touirsm/sust-tourism/env-3main.htm
57
‘gaze’ that continues up until today since the time of the first travellers oriental accounts in
the 17th century.
At the same time, Cichocki highlights that there is internal tourism to hamams made by modern Turks although, at the same time, she affirms (see 2005: p106) that larger hamams in
Istanbul are almost entirely depending on tourism industry. In her research she distinguishes
five different groups of possible Turkish visitors to hamam. (see 2005: p108) The first group
does not attend public bathhouses completely either due to a belief that hamams are either
dirty and unhygienic places or these people have aversion to nudity in public even if the
place is segregated according to gender. The second group has never visited hamam, but
feels ashamed of that since public bathhouses represent Ottoman cultural heritage. The
third group consists of people who have visited hamams during their childhood, but now they
do not go there since there they cannot find an appropriate social context for a visit. The
fourth group, which also includes so-called internal tourists, visits public bathhouses at least
several times a year for pleasure and leisure. The fifth group visits hamams very frequently
for hygienic reasons since they hold the opinion that one can be properly clean only after a
rubdown in hamam. Hamams generally represent cultural identity for some Turkish people.
However the question arises as to whether hamams can survive without tourism interaction
despite the belief of some experts that hamam has a chance to survive only through tourism.
(see Linden, in FAS 22/02/2004) If yes, local people also should be included as a target
group while providing alternative suggestions on best solution of conservation, which will be
the topic of the final chapter 4.3.
According to Kerimoğlu and Çıraklı, a tourist spends an average 2.5 days in Istanbul. (TYD
2002, see Ibid., p6) Furthermore, middle and upper-middle groups of tourists rather than
low-income groups mostly visit Istanbul. (Ibid., p16) In terms of Istanbul in general and
hamams in particular they are targeted for more privileged social groups that come to Istanbul for a short time for cultural, health and other travelling reasons like business trips. Moreover, it has some references to high culture that aimed at smaller groups of tourists who want
to discover the city’s rich heritage and furthermore is willing to keep the general notion of
sustainability. Therefore, alternative hamam tourism 62 can be included into well-organized
tourist routes that introduce historic monuments of Istanbul, Ottoman traditions and furthermore propose the possibility to indulge oneself in health activities through water.
62
Hamams in Istanbul underwent some damages, new uses and modification, which will be studies in
chapter 4.2.
58
Conclusions
To sum up, tourism especially in developing countries is viewed as a generator of quick and
easy way of accumulating foreign currency earning as well as the platform for creating jobs
for local people without considering longer-term effects and a proper cost-benefit analysis.
Therefore, tourism industry is highly ambivalent since it can cause both fast visible benefits
and losses that may not be so easily observed right away.
Although it is obvious that the Turkish government and business sector try to do a lot in order
to improve the development of tourism in Turkey, yet the approaches in tourism are not always well accomplished. As a result, tourism does not necessarily go hand in hand with the
principles of sustainability and therefore contributes little to the overall development of Turkey. 63 Furthermore, the current aim of the Turkish government at high revenues and rapid
growth in terms of volume has danger of falling into quantity rather than quality market industry that would imply uncontrollable mass tourism boom in Turkey.
At the same time, despite some efforts made by the government to diminish social and regional inequality in Turkey in particular with the Southeastern Development Project or socalled GAP in 1998, there is still much to be done in order to decrease poverty, improve regional balance as well as establishing equality among classes. It may sound idealistic since
tourism alone cannot induce sustainable development of the country if necessary measures
and policies are not taken into consideration by the government of Turkey. Due to this tourism in Turkey cannot be viewed as the main instrument for increasing foreign currency in the
country as well as employment especially when the country depends on international tour
operators and on the few tourist-generating countries.
Finally, the main type of tourism in Turkey being so-called “sea, sand and sun” mass tourism
puts pressure on the country’s resources as well as induces social and regional inequality.
Instead Turkey should differentiate its tourism product and promote some other types of tourism like cultural, health or winter sports. Istanbul, for instance, is rich with cultural assets that
are underestimated tourist destination.
Yet there is one more already mentioned element of tourism, which is a concern put forward
by international tourism organisations and other practitioners in the field. It is the notion of
sustainable tourism, the concept that will be defined in the next chapter.
63
See the concept of sustainable tourism and sustainable development in chapter 4.1.
59
REFERENCES
Bramwell, B., Mass tourism, Diversification and Sustainability in Southern Europe’s Coastal
Regions, in Coastal Mass Tourism: Diversification and Sustainable Development in Southern Europe, Ed. Bramwell, B., Clevedon: Cromwell Press Ltd 2004
Burkart, J. and Medlik, R., Tourism: Past, Present and Future, London: Heinemann 1974
Cichocki, N., Continuity and Change in Turkish Bathing Culture in Istanbul: The Life Story of
the Çemberlitaş Hamam, Turkish Studies, Vol.6/No.1 2005, 93-143
Clarke,
A.,
The
Cultural
Tourism
Dynamic,
in
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/ttri/pdf/conference/alan%20clark.pdf, site visited in July 28,
2006
Culler, J., Semiotics of Tourism, in American Journal of Semiotics, Vol.1/No.1-2 1981, 127140
Goeldner, Ch.R. and Ritchie Brent, J.R., Tourism: Principles, Practices, Philosophies, 9th Ed.
New Jersey: John Wiley § Sons, Inc., Hoboken 2003
Hunter, Colin and Green, Howard, Tourism and the Environment. A Sustainable Relationship? London and New York: Routledge 1996
Jenks, C., Culture, London: Routledge 1993
Kerimoğlu,
Europeans
Travel
Behaviour
in
Istanbul
and
Turkey,
in
http://www.ersa.org/ersaconfs/ersa04/PDF/410.pdf, site visited in May 2, 2006
Linden, P., Die Hitze unter der Kuppel, in Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung
22/02/2004
MacCannell, D., The Tourist, New York: Schocken 1976
Page, J.S., Tourism Management: Managing for Change, Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann
2003
60
Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Tourism Vision of Turkey for 2010 and
2nd
Action
in
Period,
http://www.kultur.gov.tr/EN/BelgeGoster.aspx?17A16AE30572D313F88F742D0D711251703
CD59098841715, site visited in January 16, 2006
Rodwell, D., The City of Bath, in World Heritage Review, 41/2005
Swarbrooke, J., Sustainable Tourism Management, Oxon: CABI 2002
Tosun, C., Timothy D.J., and Öztürk, Y., Tourism Growth, National Development and Regional Inequality in Turkey, in Coastal Mass Tourism: Diversification and Sustainable Development in Southern Europe, (ed. Bramwell, B.), Clevedon: Cromwell Press Ltd 2004
Tosun, C., An Analysis of the Economic Contribution of Inbound International Tourism in
Turkey, in Tourism economics 5/3/1999, 217-250
Urry, J., Consuming Places, London: Routledge 1995
United Nations Environment Programme, Sustainable Development of Tourism in
http://www.unep.fr/pc/touirsm/sust-tourism/env-3main.htm, site visited in January 30, 2006
http://www.udel.edu/PR/UDaily/2005/mar/tourism072505.html, site visited in April 30, 2006
http://newspot.byegm.gov.tr/2006/february/ns14.htm, site visited in April 30, 2006
World
Tourism
Organization,
UNWTO
Tourism
Highlights,
in
http://www.world-
tourism.org/facts/menu.html, site visited in May 2, 2006
World Tourism Organisation http://www.world-tourism.org/sustainable/doc/a21-def.pdf, site
visited in October 12, 2005
http://www.visit-germany.jp/pdf/bedeutung04_e.pdf., site visited in September 9, 2006
61
4 Sustainable Tourism and Hamams
4.1 Concepts of Sustainable Tourism
The concept of sustainable tourism is a relatively new phenomenon that developed in the
beginning of the 1990s. Yet the origin of this term derives from a broader concept of sustainable development. The first attempts of sustainable development can be seen, for instance, in town and city planning. In the 19th century, at the time when technological inventions and urbanisation took place in the European West, it was recognised that rapid industrialisation transformed the economy, society as well as the natural environment, which led,
as a result, to poor quality of life. Due to this, industrialists and powerful businessmen, for
instance, developed parks in order to provide better living conditions for their workers. At the
same time government and local councils also started taking initiatives to improve quality of
life and altogether safeguard a long-term future of the town when it was acknowledged that
overwhelming industrialisation has a negative effect on public health. As a result at the end
of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century the first trend of laws and regulations
developments in town planning in Europe was initiated. Furthermore, the rise of the Garden
City movement highlighted the need of some groups of people to induce equality within society as well as to safeguard the environment. The other great movement took place after a
devastating World War II when many wanted a new world order to replace the old one. As a
result, it stimulated new ideas for planning and development in order to provide good living
conditions for people, reduce disparities between regions and to rationally exploit social and
economic resources. (see Swarbrooke 2002: p4)
However, the discussions about the term ‘sustainable development’ among academics, business people and other practitioners began recently, merely during the last two or three decades. One of the first reports that spoke explicitly on the issue of sustainable development
was the ‘World Conservation Strategy’, which was published by the International Union for
the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources in 1980. Later the World Commission on
Environment and Development (WCED) wrote ‘Our Common Future’ or otherwise known as
the Brundtland Report in 1987. It stated that sustainable development meets the needs of
today by not compromising the needs of the future generations. This definition is the most
widely cited, however it should be remarked that there is no common universal definition of
the concept of sustainable development used by everyone. In order to achieve this, the primary objective for development was “removal of poverty (the traditional development objective), sustainability and participations”.
(Lele, see Lendbury 1997: p28)
All in all, the
Brundtland Report played a key role in bringing the political dimension into the issue of envi-
62
ronment as a central element with links to such issues as poverty, social inequality, and resource depletion.
A concern on environment awareness was especially induced by the
events of the 1980s when the catastrophes like that in Chernobyl caused tremendous disaster for the humanity and the environment. (see Lendbury 1997: pp25-26)
However, the concept of sustainable development of the Brundtland Report was at the same
time criticised for its limited use and unclear distinctions between different perspectives of
development. Swarbrooke points out that the Brundtland Report put emphasis on the environment, underestimating the economic and social dimensions to sustainability at the same
time. (see 2002: pp5-6) Additionally, there is no distinction made between the ‘needs’ of
developed and developing countries and furthermore it is not indicated, “most consumption in
developed countries is based on satisfying consumer wants than basic needs.” (Lendbury
1997: p30) As a result, it is not clear how development can be beneficial to all participating
parties since the definition of sustainable development does not show differences between
developing and developed countries.
Nevertheless, the Brundtland Report is an important document that started to define the concept of sustainable development with the first serious implication on the political dimension of
the issue. Environmental damages, which happened in 1980s was the impetus to raise environment awareness among people regarding the stressed connection between environment
and development. Yet, at the same time, the critic of the Brundtland Report indicated the
fact that the concept of sustainability is complex and includes a variety of meanings, which
together can bring much confusion.
For instance, the concepts of development and growth have two different meanings, however
they are often mistakenly used as the same terminology. In general economic growth is a
part of development, yet economic growth itself does not automatically precondition sustainable development of a country. As Tosun, Timothy and Öztürk in their joint work indicated,
the sign of development should satisfy “the basic needs of everyone in the country.” (see
Tosun, Timothy, Öztürk 2004: pp88-89)
In addition to that, the Oversees Development
Council (ODC) makes assessments measured by the Physical Quality Life Index (PQLI),
which looks for such components of life like level of nutrition, urbanisation, the consumption
of energy, television and telephone ownership, school enrolment and many other indicatory
elements, which are used as guidelines for showing development of a particular country.
(Wilford, see Ibid.) In short, the parameters for understanding sustainable development of a
particular country are much more intricate than merely economic growth. Furthermore, sus-
63
tainable development should aim at national development as a whole rather than what would
mean regional inequality.
Anyhow there is another way to understand the complex phenomenon of sustainable development. Bramwell suggests that sustainable development reflects and unites “different beliefs about the world as well as differing interests.” (Bramwell 2004: p17) In other word he
points out that sustainable development is a chosen political and moral strategy of a host
country but not merely a ‘technical’ question. (Bramwell 2004: p32) Apparently development
policies that a government applies to its country have an impact on how tourism is shaped
and promoted with its either longer or shorter lasting outcomes. It is also interesting to take
into consideration the statement of Bramwell that “Government frequently talk ‘green’ but, in
practice, usually give priority to economic growth over environmental protection.” (Bramwell
2004: p32) In chapter 3.2.2, for instance, it was mentioned that tourism in Turkey does not
always go hand in hand with the principles of sustainability, which is not only a ‘technical’
problem but also a politically chosen strategy. As a result a desire to have quick economic
growth, which usually happens to developing countries, has short-term and limited results.
The debates on a broad concept of sustainable development influenced disputes around the
topic of sustainable tourism. In particular many academics and practitioners of tourism industry applied the Brundtland Report to the concept of sustainable tourism. At the same
time, there were some parallel discussions on sustainable tourism behind widespread concepts of sustainable development that led the United Nations to adopt declarations, which
both tourists and tourism industry have to observe. 64 Yet only in the beginning of 1990s did
the term ‘sustainable tourism’ become a concept that was used commonly. In short, it is
widely recognized that sustainable tourism has to cover three main areas to achieve its aims:
the environment, the economy and the social and cultural aspect.
Still, there is a distinct vision of sustainable tourism as being the polar opposite to mass tourism, the idea that many academics and practitioners of tourism still tend to support. (see the
discussion regarding the term ‘mass tourism’ in chapter 3.2.1) As a result, sustainable tourism is equated with alternative tourism that is meant to be small, controlled, planned, qualitative and long-term and mass tourism is opposite to that respectively. Often these two types
are simplistically labelled as good alternative versus bad mass tourism. (see Godfrey 1993:
p67). However these strict categories of division do not reflect the reality of tourism since
tourism is a complex phenomenon and cannot be simply put as “black” or “white”.
64
See examples of declarations and statements related to sustainable tourism of UN WTO: Manila
Declaration on World Tourism (1980), The Hague Declaration on Tourism (1989), Lanzarote Charter
for Sustainable Tourism (1995) (jointly with EU, UNESCO and UNEP).
64
Furthermore, there are many examples that show alternative tourism having a great potential
to have characteristics of mass tourism and generate problems alike. Bramwell claims “it
must also be noted that ‘alternative’ tourism can be just as problematic and aggressive as
mass tourism, as sometimes it generates intense environmental and social pressures.”
(Bramwell 2004: p16) Firstly, alternative tourism is spatially dispersed and therefore can
cause distress to rare species and pristine ecosystem as well as to local people in less developed regions. (Ibid. p20) The second argument is that ‘alternative’ tourism can be criticised for its modest income benefits. (see Butler 1989: p14) Thirdly, alternative tourism often lacks resources to implement sustainable tourism measures. (see Clarke 1997: pp 226227) All in all these criticisms regarding alternative tourism in fact show that sustainability is
not inherited but rather qualitative characteristic. Yet the idea of ‘polar opposition’ is still prevailing among experts on tourism. As a result, such labels as 'green’ and ‘cultural’ tourism
being regarded as more sustainable forms of tourism than coastal mass tourism can be misleading at the same time. Moreover, different circumstances create a particular situation of
whether a certain type of tourism tends to be either more sustainable or less sustainable.
These special conditions and context should be taken into account while managing the tourist destination.
Additionally it is acknowledged by majority of experts on tourism that sustainable development is a long lasting perspective that necessarily implies intervention and planning as its
objective. (see Swarbrooke 2002: p3 ) As a result, sites of natural and cultural significance
should be appropriately conserved and managed. The principles of conservation in this thesis are understood under The Burra Charter for the conservation of places of cultural significance adopted by Australia ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) in
1979. It states the following: “Places of cultural significance should be conserved.” 65 The
Burra Charter will be the main document of reference in this thesis for several reasons.
Unlike the other charters devoted to the issues of conservation of a monument with cultural
significance, the Burra Charter is regularly being updated (last revised in 1999) responding to
the new dynamics and discussions while dealing with heritage conservation in general. Furthermore, the Burra Charter is clear and concise while explaining the definitions related to
the topic of heritage conservation, therefore without them it would be difficult to proceed under the guidelines proposed by Australia ICOMOS.
Finally sustainable tourism as well as a general concept of sustainability has a political dimension, which is crucial in shaping tourism realities and development issues of the host
65
Article 2.1 in http://www.icomos.org/australia/burra.html
65
country. (see Ledbury 1997: p212; Bramwell 2004: p32) Turkey, for instance, is a member
state of the United Nation’s World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) since 1975, which plays a
central role in promoting sustainable tourism. It obliges Turkey to strive for a responsible and
longer-term perspective with regards to its environment and culture while promoting tourism
in Turkey as it is highlighted in the “Global Code of Ethics for Tourism” of World Tourism Organization. 66 As a matter of fact the Prime Minister Erdoğan stated that the priority of tourism vision of Turkey for 2010 is to highlight and present culture in a sustainable way. 67 But
what is important here is how well a country adheres to the principles of sustainability as it is
acknowledged by the United Nation’s declarations and other international environmental organizations.
The concepts of sustainable tourism are manifold: the conservation and safeguarding of a
monument with cultural significance, careful intervention and planning, the crucial role of
government in addressing sustainable tourism principles and finally mass tourism, which can
also strive to become (more) sustainable. Furthermore, the term ‘sustainable tourism’ has its
origins in the concept of sustainable development and many of the principles between these
two concepts are interrelated. Tourism itself is not solely responsible for overall development
of the country, but it plays an important role in contributing to national economy, welfare and
other significant benefits.
The following chapter will demonstrate different models of hamams and alternatives in terms
of tourism and preservation of its cultural significance. It will serve as a basis for the last section of this thesis regarding the best methods while dealing with hamams from local as well
as from wider international tourism perspective and sustainability.
REFERENCES
Australia ICOMOS (International Commission on Monuments and Sites), Burra Charter, in
http://www.icomos.org/australia/burra.html, site visited in March 17, 2006
Bramwell, B., Mass Tourism, Diversification and Sustainability in Southern Europe’s Coastal
Regions, in Coastal Mass Tourism: Diversification and Sustainable Development in Southern Europe, (ed. Bramwell, B.), Clevedon: Cromwell Press Ltd 2004
66
See www.world-tourism.org/aboutwto/eng/aboutwto.htm#1
See
http://www.kultur.gov.tr/EN/BelgeGoster.aspx?17A16AE30572D313F88F742D0D711251703CD5909
8841715
67
66
Butler, R.W., Alternative Tourism: Pious Hope or Trojan Horse? in World Leisure and Recreation 31/4/1989, 9-17
Clarke, J., A Framework of Approaches to Sustainable Tourism, in Journal of Sustainable
Tourism 5/3/1997, 224-233
Godfrey, K.B., Book Reviews, in Journal of Sustainable Tourism 1/1/1993, 67-70
Ledbury, R., Sustainability in an Area of Rapid Mass Tourism Growth: The Case of Thailand,
in Tourism and Sustainable Development (ed. Hein), Hamburg: Deutsches Übersee-Institute
1997
Ledbury, R., Sustainable Tourism: a Review and the Research Agenda (ed. Hein), Hamburg: Deutsches Übersee-Institute 1997
Swarbrooke, J., Sustainable Tourism Management, Oxon: CABI 2002
Tosun, C., Timothy D.J., and Öztürk, Y., Tourism Growth, National Development and Regional Inequality in Turkey, in Coastal Mass Tourism: Diversification and Sustainable Development in Southern Europe, (ed. Bramwell, B.), Clevedon: Cromwell Press Ltd 2004
World Tourism Organisation www.world-tourism.org/aboutwto/eng/aboutwto.htm#1, site visited in February 27, 2006
67
4.2 The Examples of Current Models of Hamam Tourism and Hamam Conservation
This section seeks to deal with the current models of hamam, which are taken as alternatives
in tourism and conservation of the Turkish bath culture. The concept of conservation is taken
from the Burra Charter: it means all the processes of looking after a place so as to retain its
cultural significance. 68 Hence conservation is not merely looking after its physical environment, but also its ‘spiritual’ part. This chapter is divided into three parts - Istanbul, Budapest
and Berlin - the examples will show development of Turkish baths influenced by different
geographical, historical and social factors.
In particular, Istanbul represents a variety of
hamam alternatives in tourism and conservation, therefore three main hamam models will be
considered: the larger historic hamams that continue to be used as baths, newly built hotel
hamams and finally the hamams that are used for different functions and purposes than that
for bathing. Despite many hamams in Istanbul still functioning as baths, only the larger historic hamams will be studied because they mostly or as some scientists believe entirely depend on foreign visitors. (see Cichocki 2005: p108) This approach is chosen because the
first hypothesis of this research was analysed in part 2 of this thesis 69 . The interrelation of
hamams and tourism industry aims at studying the second hypothesis, which states that tourism influences cultural changes as well. In addition to that, the cases in Istanbul 70 and Berlin
will be based on empirical observation whereas Budapest will be supported by written
sources on history. Furthermore, as mentioned above the Burra Charter would be used as
guidelines for evaluation of heritage conservation taking into account tangible and intangible
aspects of cultural significance embodied in hamams. The discussion will lead to the final
chapter 3.4 that introduces suggestions on best solutions based on cultural significance of
hamams, tourism perspective and sustainability.
4.2.1 Istanbul
4.2.1.1 Historic Hamams Used as Baths
During the Ottoman times Istanbul was rich with public hamams built within külliye in every
bigger neighbourhood of the town, with private hamams in richer houses and in Sultan’s family palace. (see chapter 1.1) As some scientific accounts reveal, a total of 237 public baths
68
See http://www.icomos.org/australia/burra.html
Internal cultural changes influence the bath culture in Turkey and Istanbul.
70
The author was in Istanbul for research in December 2004. Additionally, the empirical experience
was made during the internship to Turkey, Izmir, from 2003 October till 2004 April.
69
68
were built in Istanbul, whereas today only 57 are still in operation (Haskan, see Yılmazkaya,
2003: p15, Ibid., p29) and many of them strive to survive financially by suiting the prevailing
economic, tourist and marketing demands.
Many historic hamams are located in Sultanahmet and Beyoğlu areas, which are abundant
with tourist attractions and popular sightseeing places of Istanbul. Hence the convenient location creates an opportunity for many historic hamams to target on international visitors and
eventually mostly depend on money earned from tourism. As a result, it induces the changing social space in public baths: foreign visitors gradually replace the number of local people. Due to this many historic hamams in Istanbul target the pockets of tourists thus the services in hamams are relatively expensive 71 . Furthermore, it became an important strategy
for the managers and owners of historic bathhouses to collaborate with the hotel network.
Suleymaniye hamam, for instance, has established a system of separate prices for hotel customers depending on whether they live in the first (e.g. Sultanahmet) or in the second area
(e.g. Taksim Square) of Istanbul. Thus the tourists coming to visit Istanbul are also divided
into subgroups and have certain privileges respectively. 72
At the same time, the focus on tourists, as the main target group, may bring about some
transformation of cultural practices to please the taste and habits of foreign cultures and visitors. Therefore, in many larger historic hamams in Istanbul a new behaviour can be observed. 73 For instance, more and more mixed bathing is introduced in some major hamams
in Istanbul. 74 Historically Turkey though relatively liberal in terms of religion, especially in
bigger cities, body is not openly displayed in particular to the opposite sex due to Islamic
laws and historical segregation of genders. Yet in some Western European countries and
especially in Germany mixed saunas, beaches, and open nudity in public parks are usually
well accepted. As a result, two sets of behaviour collide. The Burra Charter acknowledges,
too, that a place of cultural significance should “respect associations and meanings; and
where appropriate should provide for continuation of practices which contribute to the cultural
significance of the place.” (Article 7.2) Hence the European principle of behaviour in TurkishIslamic hamams cannot be imagined as universally acceptable by all especially because the
understanding of nudity is beyond comparison from country to country. However, aiming at a
71
For instance, the prices in Çağaloğlu hamam may vary from at least 10 to 30 Euros. Hamams were
charitable endowment during the Ottoman times, currently smaller neighbourhood hamams like Sarıyer and Hürriet bath in Istanbul’s mahalle of Dolapdere can cost from 5 to 7 Euros. (see Yılmazkaya
2003: pp122-123)
72
Yet, Çemberlitaş has another approach. This hamam has discounts for students and regular Turkish visitors that encourage a wider range of people to use their bath.
73
See chapter 1.3 for the discussion about social behaviour in Turkish baths.
74
The only known hamam in Istanbul, which is entirely mixed, is Suleymaniye. Other hamams like
Galatasaray and Çağaloğlu have separate sections for men and women, but if desired by tourist
groups and couples, these hamams can be used also mixed.
69
new target group of visitors also demands some changes to occur. Yet, at the same time, it
mostly excludes the local Turks as a target group due to the conflict, which comes about between traditional and new practices. This induces some larger historic hamams in Istanbul to
promote a kind of new bathing culture for their potential visitors.
At the same time, tourism is a tool to exchange practices and experiences among different
countries. Turkish hamam, too, expanded its services, therefore a traditional steam bathing
can include sauna, fitness studio or solarium. Çağaloğlu hamam, for instance, has integrated a separate space for café, which became very popular among visitors while the other
hamam Çemberlitaş offers a fitness centre and a solarium for mostly female visitors of the
bath. The Burra Charter states that culture is dynamic and “change may be necessary” (Article 15.1), but respect for meanings of the place of cultural significance in terms of its use
should not be constrained either (see Article 3.1 regarding cautious approach). The internal
cultural changes of Turkey promote new types of demands. (see chapter 2 about internal
cultural changes in Turkey) Therefore, the use of a bath only for washing and socialising
might become limited for Turks especially in big cities like Istanbul. Most Turkish families
have comfortable baths at home and furthermore more and more women especially in big
cities have less time for socializing in hamams because of work and career possibilities.
Hence for the managers of hamams there is a need to attract people to visit their public bath
reacting to the present demands and innovations of people. Thus hamams attained new
forms of cultural meanings by promoting new functions and services. Furthermore, the new
services like sauna or fitness training do not interrupt or severely intrudes but rather compliment the original use of baths based on new conditions since both are related to health and
fitness. Therefore, the change itself sometimes can be considered a form of development
from the present conditions. True, the change of original use of hamams reduces the cultural
significance of the place as it is put forward by Australia ICOMOS in the Burra Charter, however it retains the new spirit of functions and meanings in the Turkish society in present time.
(see part 2)
Behaviour, services and social space in larger historic hamams are gradually changing in
response to new demands of people and also to tourism, which plays an increasingly important role in Turkish economy. The Burra Charter acknowledges the changes that can happen within a span of time, however it also proclaims the compatible use of places with cultural significance. Furthermore, the Burra Charter takes into account the important relationship between native people and heritage places. In some situations Turks are excluded as a
participating party giving way to the new target groups that are encouraged by some larger
historic hamams in Istanbul. Additionally it was argued that the cultural significance of Turk-
70
ish baths might decline yet it can nevertheless regain new forms of cultural meanings responding to the present demands of people. By the same token, the Burra Charter also concedes the dynamic development of culture: “Cultural significance may change as a result of
the continuing history of the place.” (Article 1.2) There is always a possibility that a new
bathing culture can be born from the older one.
This part comprised only larger baths that depend mostly or as some believe entirely on tourism, however, at the same time, there are smaller mahalle neighbourhood hamams in Istanbul that are visited mostly by local people. 75 Therefore, local people, as a target group, cannot be ignored and therefore management of Turkish baths should not be entirely focused on
tourism sector. All in all, global tourism cannot be viable without local participation.
4.2.1.2 Hotel Hamams
A “Çiragan Palace Hotel” in Istanbul built a hamam following a historical pattern of the Ottoman bath. (see Fig. 23) According to the Burra Charter, new work in places of cultural significance may be acceptable, yet “imitation should be avoided” (Article 22) “Çırağan Palace
Hotel” is luxurious, but, as Australia ICOMOS suggests, the new built hotel hamam does not
contain any value from heritage, conservation and cultural point of view because of its imitatative manner. By the same token, a regular visitor of public hamams in Istanbul, Mehmet
Gençer, points out to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, the newly built hotel baths
in Istanbul do not represent the reality and a genuine feeling of Turkish culture: „...die neuen
Istanbuler Bäder (...) schön gemacht, fast sieht es wie ein echtes Hamam aus“, sagt Mehmet, „aber es fühlt sich nicht so an“. (Linden, in FAS 22/02/2004) In other words it is an imitation influenced by a specific condition of tourism that has no historic, social or spiritual
value for present and future generations.
Furthermore, astronomical prices 76 exclude a
wider use of baths especially by local people.
At the same time, hotel hamams in Istanbul can be viewed as business targeted at a smaller
contingent of people who value comfort and health. As it was already pointed out in chapter
3.2.1, tourists from the developed countries are more and more willing to pay for quality of
services in health destinations. Thus people are increasingly giving concern and high priority
to taking care of their health and good physical well-being. As a result, changes in personal
75
When the author of this research visited Istanbul and hamams in December 2004, the smaller mahalle (neighbourhood) hamams attended in Üsküdar and Beşiktaş were busy with local people. A
popularity of smaller public baths among Istanbul people cannot be ignored and the assumption is
made that hamams can also survive without a tourist interaction.
76
Washing and massage cost 75 US Dollar whereas 6 to 8 Dollar in some neighbourhood hamams in
Istanbul.
71
priorities in more specific terms as well as tourism development in general influence modifications in bathing culture in Turkey and Istanbul. Therefore hotel hamams are not always
negative development but rather induce a new bathing culture targeted at more privileged
social groups.
In short, hotel hamams in Istanbul are influenced by tourism industry, that offer relaxation
and wellness without emphasising a traditional way of bathing. It has no significance from
heritage point of view yet it is business to provide a tourist comfort and entertainment. Hotel
hamam is a new type of business, which is not necessarily negative but rather brings new
winds to uses and practices based on current situation and demands of people.
4.2.1.3 Re-use of Hamams
The third model of baths in Istanbul consists of historic hamams, which are not used for their
original purposes anymore. There were many projects of revival of hamams in Istanbul,
which were not necessarily targeted at tourists but rather applied and renovated to serve
totally different functions. This part contains two examples of hamams, one in Üsküdar and
the other one in Ortaköy.
The historic hamam in Üsküdar presently functions as a modern grocery shop near one of
the main harbours in the Asian side of Istanbul. The Ottoman architecture that one can see
from outside has a modern interior. The most striking alteration of the interior design is the
new ceiling that covers the domes of the former Üsküdar hamam, which, unfortunately, under-represents a great architectural fabric from the Ottoman times. The Burra Charter’s philosophy on conservation of historic buildings is to respect its meanings and change “as much
as necessary but as little as possible” (Article 3.1), moreover changes applied on the building
of cultural significance “ should not distort the physical or other evidences it provides” (Article
3.2) For instance, a modern ceiling of Üsküdar hamam, which covers the domes, harshly
distorts the Ottoman building and disrespects its historical fabric. Therefore, the hamam in
Üsküdar does not retain heritage significance due to bad conservation of the building.
According to the Burra Charter the “place should have a compatible use” and “should respect
associations and meanings; and where appropriate should provide for continuation of practices which contribute to the cultural significance of the place.” (Article 7.2) The historic purpose of the building was changed into a grocery shop, which is not an ideal match to the historic function of the building. Firstly, the historic use of the building is hardly traceable especially because of the modern interior, which covers the historic domes of the building. Sec-
72
ondly, the new meaning of the place is not of compatible use and consequently does not
greatly contribute to the place significance as well as its historical use.
To sum up, the historic hamam in Üsküdar is badly conserved since the new structures
crudely interrupts the historic fabric of the building, furthermore the present use of the building is not compatible and does not respect the meanings at all. Therefore cultural significance of the place is not retained according to the principles of conservation under Australian
ICOMOS.
The other example of hamam is located in Ortaköy, the European side of Istanbul, where one
can find a hamam built by a great Ottoman architect Sinan. The building is currently used as
a restaurant near the bank of Bosphorus. Yet one can see the traces of the former hamam,
therefore “conservation is based on respect for the existing fabric.” (The Burra Charter, Article 3.1) Furthermore, according to the Burra Charter, the use of a place of cultural significance should be retained. It means the hamam in Ortaköy should function as hamam.
Sometimes the use can change and continuation of the original practice may become obsolete. Yet in the case of the hamam in Ortaköy, this compromise is not properly solved: the
idea of having a restaurant does not fulfil, for instance, financial expectations projected to this
place. First of all, Istanbul is famous and full of all kinds of restaurants of various prices and
tastes. It means the competition is very high for the Ortaköy restaurant despite the great
architecture of Mimar Sinan. True, some people might want to come and appreciate the Ortaköy former hamam from aesthetic point of view, which is pointed out by a special sign on
the wall near the entrance. Yet Istanbul is full of great historic buildings from Ottoman time
that one can find in Sultanahmet, for instance, an area famous for tourist visits as a part of a
“codified route.” (see chapter 3.2.2)
Secondly, the restaurant is very expensive, which
means it is not accessible to people of less income. Hence the idea to re-use an Ortaköy
hamam as a restaurant does not make very good sense and even its management is not
feasible financially.
In conclusion, Istanbul is indeed full of public baths, which are difficult to safeguard due to
high costs of maintenance. Furthermore, more and more Turks have their own utilities at
home, which make public hamams not so essential as places to visit for hygienic and religious reasons. Consequently many historic hamams are in a state of deterioration. At the
same time, especially during the time of modernisation (see part 2 of the thesis) hamams
were viewed as obsolete and archaic and thus not so important for a modern man who
sought to live a western way of life.
As a result many historic hamams in Istanbul deterio-
rated in particular during the second half of the 20th century. However, this also caused dis-
73
satisfaction among people who subsequently called for attention of the authorities to safeguard the Ottoman cultural heritage. As a result the professionals and the academics introduced some conservation plans to save Ottoman architecture in general. In short, given the
context of the alteration of cultural values as well as a high cost to maintain hamams (see
part 2 regarding the changing concept of ownership of hamams) many projects that have
offered re-use of historic hamams as one of the solutions would aim to maintain them physically as the basic objective.
4.2.2 Budapest
While public baths in Istanbul are the focus, the hamams in other countries provide comparative examples and hence more possible conclusions in the final chapter of this thesis. Two
cities are chosen, namely Budapest and Berlin, which are incomparable for their different
historical, social, cultural and administrative backgrounds but interesting for studying development and cultural transfer of their hamams.
Turks in fact were not the first to built hamams in Hungary. 77 Buda, the historic part of the
city, is rich with natural springs that can be counted up to 118 78 therefore the geological location was a good opportunity for the Romans and later for the Turks to build thermal baths in
the area of Buda.
There are two kinds of hamams existing in Turkey (see chapter 1.1): a thermal bath (ılıca)
and a steam bath (hamam). During the occupation of Hungary, the Ottomans built both
types of baths, but up until today only four Turkish thermal hamams of the 16th century can
be found in Budapest, namely Császár, Király, Rudas and Rácz baths. The steam hamams
after the recapture, however, were eventually destroyed or used for other purposes like storage places or accommodation rooms for poor people. At the same time, thermal hamams
integrated much better in Budapest and Hungary in general: it was perhaps easier and more
economic to maintain the ılıcas because one does not have to heat the water, which would
mean in a steam hamam a lot of expenses.
77
During the Turkish rule in Hungary (1541-1686), many Ottoman symbolic monuments such as
mosques, madrasas and hamams have been actively built to establish new political and cultural
power in the occupied lands. After the Turks were expelled and Hungary was reconquered, the
baths were not destroyed but adapted to the continuing history of the place.
78
See http://www.budapest-hotel-guide.hu/en/budapest-information/geography/thermal-baths-spasbudapest.php
74
Hamams in Budapest were built in a similar manner as in Istanbul: they belonged to every
bigger settlement mahalle and had a gradation of rooms in terms of temperature following
the example taken from the Roman times (see chapters 1.1 and 1.1.2). The typical form of
the Turkish hamam, which can be found in thermal and in steam baths in Budapest, is a rectangular domed building with usually octagonal pool in ılıca or an octagonal marble slab located in the main section of hamam. Çifte hamams 79 was also a common way to build baths
in Hungary.
Király thermal hamam (see Fig. 24 and Fig. 25), built between 1565 and 1578, shows a continuous development of the hamam within the course of history. After Turks were expelled
from Hungary, bath culture was in decline, yet it was revived at the end of the 18th and 19th
centuries, around the time when spa tourism among the elite became especially popular in
West Europe (see Rodwell 2005: p45). The Király family became the owners of this thermal
bath in 1796. They rebuilt the thermal hamam in 1826 into the shape one can see today.
The family extended the original size of the bath and integrated some new secondary facilities. A ground plan (Fig. 26) shows the reconstruction and the enlargement of the hamam:
the new Classical style elements were added though the historic original elements of the
Turkish part of the bath were retained too. Hence, besides Ottoman octagonal thermal pool
and some other smaller pools around it (containing water of different temperatures), a new
ensemble consists of a number of tub baths situated around the courtyard, shops, a hairdresser room, a snack stand and other secondary facilities. Some alternative services were
introduced, too, like massage, underwater jet massage, sauna, fitness and foot care that
eventually became popular among foreign and local people. During World War II, the Király
thermal hamam was heavily damaged and it was subsequently rebuilt a second time in
1950s and now belongs to the city. (see Gerő 1976: pp35-36; see Csörnyei and Horváth
1970: pp81-82) All in all, Király bath became a spa health centre offering various health
treatments through water as well as integrating sport activities and massage for relaxation,
beauty and health.
The thermal bath in Budapest highlights the example of cultural transfer of Turkish hamams
from one historic and political background to another one. The overall architectural ensemble of the Király bath after extension was not disturbed. The Burra Charter concedes that
modifying conservation may be appropriate and preferred and “in some cases, continuing a
significant use or practice may involve substantial new work.” (Article 23) During the modification of the Király bath new Classical architectural components to the existing Turkish part
of hamam were attached. It turned this bath into a big modern complex to include additional
79
Hamam consisting of two identical parts usually with two separate entrances one for men and the
other for women.
75
services related to wellness and health thus creating a harmonious entity altogether. Furthermore, the old Turkish part of the bath is retained and can be used today. Although, according to the Burra Charter, the extension of the architectural complex reduces cultural significance of the historic building, the new services and respective architectural components
broaden its use in terms of health and wellness. The popularity of these baths after reconstruction has increased, therefore it also indicates that the Király bath gained the new meanings and cultural significance reflecting the present history of people, which, at the same
time, is not directly connected to Turkish culture.
4.2.3 Berlin
The next model of hamam represents another example of cultural transfer, which occurred
outside the geographical and historical context of Turkey and was influenced by a specific
social immigration condition. After the Turks were invited to make up for the labour shortage
in Germany in 1961, many of them came to Europe hoping to earn money and to secure a
safe retirement back in Turkey. Yet after a big flow of Turkish workers in particular between
1961 and 1973 as well as a continuous migration of family members from Turkey and a high
birth rate, Germany became the host country of the biggest Turkish minority in Europe. In
the course of such events either for the sake of keeping up traditions or for some other more
pragmatic and economic based reasons, two hamams in Berlin were founded, one in a Turkish neighbourhood in Kreuzberg, the other one in a more “German” area of Schöneberg,
which will be studied below. The alternative models of hamam developed in Berlin are an
interesting subject, with regards to the question of whether hamams in Berlin is a way of
conserving this culture or whether they retain a new form of cultural significance that could
only develop under a certain social immigration background.
The private Sultan Hamam is owned by a Turkish woman and was opened in1999 in Berlin
to offer an “oriental experience” for both men and women from Germany and other European
countries. The bath has three main sections: a dressing room, the main hot room where the
marble slab is located and a small steam room. Apart from it one can find a separate space
for relaxation, a room designated for massage and sauna. From architectural point of view
Sultan hamam in Berlin does not have value as a culturally significant building supported by
an aesthetic point of view since the building is constructed under different historic and social
conditions. Therefore only management of the place and offered services in the bath will be
observed, i.e. the intangible element of culture.
76
The Sultan hamam in Berlin is a good example of how traditional understanding and cultural
values based on different historical and cultural background collide.
For instance, this
hamam offers a massage done by a male masseur to both men and women. As it was already pointed out in the examples in Istanbul, some traditional understanding and rules of
intimacy are too sacred and generally it would be too simplistic to disregard them from the
outset. However culture, at the same time, can adapt under new circumstances and from
influence of other societies. (see chapter 1 on the concepts of culture)
Even though for
Turks mixed bathing is generally unacceptable and furthermore, the different countries, cultures and religions have their own standards and sets of values regarding intimacy of body
like nudity, mixed bathing or massage to the opposite sex, yet Turks living in Germany already for some generations, can already have different behaviour codes about the same understanding of nudity, mixed bathing and cultural values in general. Therefore, the cultural
transfer, which one can also observe in Sultan hamam, can be a mixture of values, which
also allows an adaptation element.
The Sultan hamam has established a close network of collaboration with the hotel chain that
promotes this hamam to tourists. This promotional strategy indicates that tourists are an
important target group for this hamam. Furthermore, the Sultan hamam is expensive 80 and
therefore it is not accessible to a wide public. Hence, once again it indicates that the owner
of hamam aims at a limited contingent of visitors with rather good income. As a result, the
Sultan hamam in Berlin has developed into a hotel bath rather than represents a truly Turkish
traditional hamam, which happens as a result of two different sets of cultural value, traditional
understanding and economic basis interacting with each other.
However, as it was already pointed out in this chapter, new developments are not always
negative. Health tourism is on its peak and more and more people are ready to pay high
price for it. (see chapter 3.2.1) Yet, one should understand, at the same time, a genuine
“oriental experience” offered in the public bath in Berlin is not the same as a cultural and traditional experience in Istanbul, for example. Therefore people visiting the Sultan hamam can
be attracted for totally different reasons than that for experiencing Ottoman culture and its
religion. Additionally, the Burra charter says that cultural significance should involve an intangible part of understanding of the concept that reflects social, spiritual or historic values.
(see Article 1.2) Consequently, the Sultan hamam in Berlin is more a hotel establishment
where cultural understanding of bathing is transformed into a new bathing establishment in
Germany, which mostly aims at clients who are willing to sped money for the health reasons.
80
The cheapest offer is 14 euros, which is a three hour bathing without any additional service included.
77
Furthermore, there are many hamams in Europe, which are not necessarily owned and managed by Turks, which at the same time indicates that cultures do not have borders and can
transfer from society to society even if different meanings and values attached to the use and
aims of bathing. Turkish hamams in Europe became especially in fashion and demand during the 19th century. For instance, Turkish baths in 19th century England were praised for
being medical, mental and spiritual regenerator. Eventually they were erected in England
and later there were additional requests to establish Turkish baths also in other towns like in
Sheffield. (see Crawshay 1857: p32) Furthermore, many hamams were so popular among
Englishmen that some believed it has already become a part of English institution. (Ibid.) In
Germany, for instance, a fine Jugendstil architecture Müllersches Volksbad in München is a
big and modern bath complex. It includes Finnish sauna, solarium, café, swimming pools,
Roman-Irish bathing complex as well as a Turkish steam hamam among some other services offered. It was inaugurated in 1901 and donated to the city by a wealthy engineer Karl
Müller. Currently it is one of the most beautiful healing bath complexes in Europe and a
popular visiting place for people to rest, relax and to keep good health condition in general
terms. 81
Cultural meanings of Turkish baths in München were of different dimensions,
mostly related to health reasons and relaxation. It is thus a new form of culture that can successfully develop in a foreign country as well.
The discussed models of hamam are certainly not the only ones existing, but it provides an
overview of some current alternatives of hamam tourism and makes an interesting discussion from the points of view of cultural significance and conservation. The discussion leads
to the next chapter of the thesis that will suggest possible solutions from tourism as well as
local perspectives to conserve this unique hamam culture in Istanbul and Turkey.
REFERENCES
Australia ICOMOS, Burra Charter in http://www.icomos.org/australia/burra.html, site visited in
March 17, 2006
Csörnyei, S. and Horváth, J., Heil- und Schwimmbäder in Budapest, Budapest: Pannonia
Verlag 1970
81
See http://de.wikipedia.org
78
Crawshay, G., The Turkish Bath. From the Sheffield “Free Press”. “Urquhart and Other
Speeches. etc” Gross Britanien , 1857
Gerő, G., Türkische Baudenkmäler in Ungarn, Budapest: Corvina Verlag 1976
Kerimoğlu,
Europeans
Travel
Behaviour
in
Istanbul
and
Turkey,
in
http://www.ersa.org/ersaconfs/ersa04/PDF/410.pdf, site visited in May 2, 2006
Linden, P., Die Hitze unter der Kuppel, in Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung
22/02/2004
Rodwell, D., The City of Bath, in World Heritage Review, 41/2005
Yılmazkaya, O., A Light on a Tradition and Culture: Turkish Baths. A Guide to the Historic
Turkish Baths of Istanbul, Istanbul: Çitlembik 2003
http://www.budapest-hotel-guide.hu/en/budapest-information/geography/thermal-baths-spasbudapest.php, site visited in March 1, 2006
http://de.wikipedia.org, site visited in August 8, 2006
79
4.3 Conclusions on Further Transformation of Hamams in Istanbul
Challenges of Hamam Cultural Heritage Conservation
Even from a tourism perspective, it is difficult to tell which cultural aspects of hamams in Istanbul will be highly valued and find a demand among its foreign and local visitors. One can
only say that which elements will survive depends on different circumstances and the needs
of the present generation of Turks as well as on people from outside. For example, for the
Turkish community in Berlin it may be a social reason of meeting other Turks or for religious
rituals, for foreign tourists in Istanbul it may be architecture as well as an important place to
‘gaze’ upon the Turkish culture and finally Turks in Turkey may visit hamams for totally different motives like the wish to be in touch with the Ottoman past as well as meeting other
people and the simple pleasure of taking a bath in a hamam.
The concepts of culture that may be applied to baths in Turkey makes it a particularly challenging task while proposing the ways the cultural heritage of hamams in Turkey can be conserved. In this thesis, culture is viewed as a totality and together the material and immaterial
aspects of culture are understood as a coherent unit. Additionally, the dynamic element of
culture and its ability to adapt in this thesis is emphasised in connection to Turkish baths.
Just as Leiris and Lévi-Strauss have emphasised the idea of change as a part of culture, it
becomes a challenging task to propose conservation methods of the cultural heritage of
Turkish hamams taking into account both material and immaterial aspects of culture which
are dynamic as the historic overview has shown.
However, this research suggests two main trends of hamam transformations as most important: hamams in modern society for Turkish people who mostly live with an in-home bath
and historic hamams as wellness sites for tourists.
4.3.1 Hamams in Modern World for Turkish People
Part 2 of the Thesis gave an overview of the internal cultural changes of Turkey and of Istanbul, which have to be taken into account in order to propose methods for conservation. As
we saw from the comparative studies, the Tanzimat Edict of the 19th century made one of the
first steps towards modernisation of the Ottoman Empire. This process continued during the
Republican period in the 20th century whereby Europe was still in many ways regarded as a
80
model. The social changes as well as a new discourse in architecture were discussed since
it also reflected the treatment of Ottoman heritage in general and hamams in particular. During the Tanzimat and later the Republican period, nationalism obviously influenced the decline of hamams in Istanbul, however to make a direct conclusion is not easy. The society
and their needs have changed due, for instance, to the fact that more and more Turks had
domestic baths. It became an important alternative for the performance of religious ablution
as well as in washing oneself for hygienic reasons. Furthermore, many women started to go
to work and pursue a career, which left them increasingly less time for long social entertainments in hamams.
Yet women during the Ottoman times formed an important and probably the main group who
attended and used public baths. It was like a ‘coffee house’ for them where the most important news were exchanged, gossips were told and even scandals were invented as was famously said by Lady Mary Montagu. Women also were connected to much more traditions
with hamam than men, therefore public baths during classical Ottoman time was a significant
social space for them.
At the same time due to religion and special behaviour ‘codes’
hamam was one of the few places if not the only one where women could socialise without
men. In short, the baths were a significant space for Ottoman women. Yet especially in the
second half of the 20th century when more women started to have jobs, pursue careers and
thus have less time for traditions, hamam lost a big target group of visitors.
What can hamam offer for modern women and men in Turkey who due to shortage of time
and other factors have less time to indulge oneself in an authentic use of baths as it was during the Ottoman time? People might seek to find a centre that could offer more services at
one time. Furthermore, there is tendency that people spend more time on their health when
standards of life become higher. One solution would be for hamam to expand its services for
wellness and health. In addition to traditional washing Turks could be offered to use sauna
(which is already a widespread service in Turkish baths in Istanbul) or solarium, do sports
like gymnastics or whatever would be popular among Turkish people, maybe additionally
introduce some beauty salons and hairdressers.
Furthermore, the example of Turkish baths in Budapest also showed how a Turkish bath
from its original authentic forms and uses attained new meanings and functions, which successfully developed into a modern spa resort. (see chapter 3.4.2) It is not suggested that
hamams in Istanbul share the same circumstance and cultural and administrative background with hamams in Budapest, however the point is that modern developments of the
81
time are not always negative and in addition can reflect advancement. By the same token, a
traditional institution like hamam can be integrated into modern life conditions as well, which
would correspond to special aspects of cultural use for Turks living in Turkey.
As it was already pointed out by the Burra Charter 82 , the changes reduces the cultural significance of authentic Ottoman hamam, however the popularity of new additional services
can form new cultural significance of public baths in Istanbul. For changes that reduce cultural significance the Burra Charter takes a choice of reversible change. In Article 15.2 it
says “Changes which reduce cultural significance should be reversible, and be reversed
when circumstances permit.” Theoretically, the use of hamam building also as a centre for
wellness should be reversible. It means that original structures of Turkish baths have to be
respected and kept intact. The additional new structures should not disturb them.
In addition to that, the Burra Charter explanatory note regarding definition of cultural significance in Article 1 says: “Cultural significance may change as a result of the continuing history of the place.” Furthermore, Article 15.1 continues the idea: “Change may be necessary
to retain cultural significance, but is undesirable where it reduces cultural significance.” In the
case of hamams in Istanbul, it was the course of time that brought the transformation of the
needs of people as well as the new challenges to the authentic use of hamams caused by
such factors like secularisation policy of Turkey and change from a communal way of life to
more individual way of life.
However, concrete possibilities of how to conserve and use hamams should be discussed
from the perspective of local people in Turkey. For instance, there could be a selection of
hamams that would determine which hamams could be designated for tourists. The participation of local people in their cultural heritage conservation is also emphasised in Article 12
in the Burra Charter: “Conservation, interpretation and management of a place should provide for the participation of people for whom the place has special associations and meanings, or who have social, spiritual or other cultural responsibilities for the place.” Therefore,
further transformations of hamam use and conservation in Istanbul do not necessarily have
to depend only on tourism as some experts conclude. (see chapter 3.4)
4.3.2 Historic Hamams as Wellness Sites for Tourists
82
See http://www.icomos.org/australia/burra.html, site visited in March 17, 2006
82
The second conservation method suggested, based on hamam transformation, is the use of
historic hamams as wellness sites designated for tourists.
Since the time of the first travellers to Ottoman Empire in 17th century, hamams became increasingly known and represented to the West through the eyes of European as a place
erotic and exotic: perhaps due to this, a lot of people associate hamams, for instance, with
homosexual fantasies. Yet in Turkey people have their own understanding of cultural significance of hamams. One of such significance was religion. Therefore it was probably not by
chance that Ottoman baths were built as a part of külliye, which is an Islamic building complex. However, nowadays especially after Turkey was proclaimed as the Republic, religion
became a matter of a private concern rather than the main instrument in public affairs as it
was during the Ottoman Empire. Furthermore, the modern houses with domestic baths as
well as new social spaces and entertainments like cinema, parks and theatres made
hamams less and less urgent as an important social gathering place of modern Turk and for
religious ablution gusül, too. Public baths in Istanbul were in decline. Managers and owners
of hamam had urgently to find another target group that would fill a gap. With the growth of
tourism the new niche was opened that provided a new source of income.
Tourism in Turkey, like in many developing countries, is seen as a relatively easy way to increase foreign currency, create jobs and to improve Turkish economy in a short span of time.
However, tourism here seems to be without a proper analysis of strength, weakness, opportunities and threat (SWOT) analysis of the industry and that can unfortunately bring negative
effects later. For instance, Turkey focuses on coastal tourism, which can eventually put
pressure on resources and economy as well as on sustainable development of the country in
general. Due to the phenomenon of mass tourism it was widely accepted that tourism organizations and other practitioners of tourism should follow the principles of sustainable tourism.
One of the principles of sustainable tourism emphasised in this thesis is the idea that tourism
is not merely a ‘technical’ issue but also a chosen political and moral strategy. Thus the role
of the government is crucial and by the same token Turkish authorities must also take responsibilities in order to keep the conditions of sustainable tourism especially while being a
member of United Nation World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO). As for the case of historic
hamams in Istanbul, it could be decided on the level of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of
Turkey regarding concrete solutions based on the interests of local people. Hence, not all
hamams in Istanbul should be opened to the tastes and fashions of tourists only. The Burra
83
Charter in Article 12 states: “Conservation, interpretation and management of a place should
provide for the participation of people for whom the place has special associations and
meanings, or who have social, spiritual or other cultural responsibilities for the place.” To
sum up, the needs of local people should be taken into consideration by authorities of Turkey
and furthermore whenever it is possible they should provide local people a possibility to
make decisions.
Furthermore, it was argued that an international mass tourism phenomenon, which was especially in boom in 1970s, could become more sustainable if positive steps and management
approaches are taken. One of the strategies to make mass tourism in Turkey more “sustainable” can be a differentiation of the tourism product of Turkey. Thus winter tourism, spa tourism and cultural tourism among the other alternative forms of tourism can be more actively
promoted in Turkey and Istanbul by Turkish authorities. Cultural and health tourism were
prioritised in this thesis due to hamams in Istanbul that can combine these two forms of tourism.
Hamams are a good example that can illustrate different uses of traditional culture to-
day and can be an alternative to mass coastal tourism. Hamams can also contribute to the
potential of Istanbul as cultural and historical city, which is presently underestimated unfortunately.
In a semiotic approach analysis, cultural signs of tourist destinations are decided by the tourists' ‘gaze’: in France they search for the signs of ‘Frenchness’, in Italy for typical Italian behaviour and in Turkey tourists search for the signs of ‘Turkishness’ and ‘Oriental’. (see chapter 3.1) Hamams in Turkey and Istanbul are often ‘gazed’ at for social and historical meanings connected to this institution. Turkish baths were founded as a part of Islamic institution
külliye under special historical circumstances. The Islam religion was an integral part of Ottoman culture; as a result, hamams became a cultural sign of Turks. At the same time, since
17th century foreign travellers promoted hamams to the West giving new meaning to this institutions. For instance, despite real cultural meanings, often Turkish baths in famous paintings (Ingres), contemporary films (Özpetek), travelling books or magazine represent hamams
as an erotic and mysterious place one has to visit while visiting Turkey. In short there is interest and established curiosity on hamams that induce one’s wish to visit it, to learn about it
and to experience it. Furthermore, the Turkish bath as an authentic Ottoman Islamic monument can be appreciated by tourists who come to visit ‘monument and sites’ of their destination. All in all hamam creates an important part of cultural tourism.
In addition to that, the Turkish bath created an inspiration for other Western countries to es-
84
tablish baths. For instance, the rumours about hamam spread so fast in Victorian England
there was a great deal of interest in opening Turkish baths. But of course the need for this
institution was primarily for health and wellness. Thus hamams also show an example of
health tourism that was established in history.
Nowadays health tourism is increasingly popular. As it was clarified in chapter 3.2.1, people
especially from Europe and the West in general are willing to pay money for their expensive
health treatment and well-being. Therefore, historic public baths in Istanbul can be represented as an important Ottoman architectural ensemble, which at the same time, could offer
additional services for health and wellness like beauty salons, some sports which are popular
in the West (e.g. yoga is increasingly trendy in Europe). It might be a sustainable strategy
that conserves and safeguards a cultural institution from architectural point of view at least.
In this case only architectural part of conservation is considered since tourists will most
probably go to hamams for their wellness, but not to meet local Turks.
However, a financial consideration should be taken into account as well. Maintenance costs
of hamam are high, therefore offering further services for health and wellness in historic or
neighbourhood hamams can attract more foreign visitors, which would accordingly bring
more money and at the same time promote health tourism in Turkey and Istanbul. Under this
new condition where hamams are designated for tourist, the use should be ‘reversible’ as the
Burra Charter conceives it. All changes done to hamam should be clearly distinguished and
the original structures should be respected. Moreover, as it was stated before, even though
innovations diminish cultural significance of the place, yet modern development are not always negative and can be a form of advancement at the same time.
Additionally, it is important to make clear to tourists that historic hamams are an important
cultural heritage of Turkey (see chapters 1 and 1.3), which they can also actively use and
participate in. Therefore different kinds of hamam, e.g. hotel hamams, should be clearly distinguished as a place which may provide bath services, but which do not have any historical
value. It would be also recommended to inform the visitors which behaviour in baths is accepted traditionally. For instance, many hotel hamams are mixed. Therefore to avoid misunderstanding and wrong associations regarding the traditional use of and behaviour in Turkish hamams, it is recommended to point out such differences. Furthermore, many cultures
have their concepts and rules regarding nudity and Istanbul as a matter of fact is visited by a
multicultural variety. At the same time, it is recommended to create a possibility for women
to take a bath separately. It can be done, for instance, either by designating separate hours
85
or certain days of weeks for the use of baths by one gender only.
By the same token, the Burra Charter also concedes that conservation measures cannot
occur without identifying cultural significance of the place: “Conservation is based on a respect for the existing fabric, use, associations and meanings.” (see Article 3.1) This understanding evokes the meanings and associations that are attached to hamams as a place of
cultural significance and on the whole makes sure that tourist would not violate local people’s
privacy and cultural practices.
Summing Up
Hamam is a good example of cultural transformations due to the course of history. On one
hand, the traditional institutions can be integrated into modern life with special aspects for
Turks in Turkey and on the other hand tourism can also safeguard cultural institutions as
monuments and museums. However it is important how Turkish authorities, managers of
hamams and other practitioners of tourism keep to the conditions of sustainable tourism as
well as conservation principles of the Burra Charter that was applied in this thesis. It is almost an impossible task to propose some ideal solutions especially since both material and
immaterial cultural heritage of hamam should be considered. Additionally, which aspects of
cultural significance of hamams should be retained in order to fit within the demands of the
present generation of Turks and the modern world altogether depends largely on local people’s decision. All in all, tourism is an important factor in maintaining hamams but it should
not be looked upon as the main or the only source of income and conservation.
REFERENCE
Australia ICOMOS, Burra Charter in http://www.icomos.org/australia/burra.html, site visited in
March 17, 2006
86
5 Appendices
5.1 Glossary
Apodyterium
the undressing room of the Roman public bath
Balaneia
a public Greek bath
Balnea
usually small, privately owned bath during the Roma times
Beylik
a territory of the Seljukid state
Caldarium
the main hot room of the Roman bath
Caliph
the term or title for the Islamic leader
Camegah
see soyunmalık
(= Camekan)
Çifte hamam
a double hamam
Cuma
translated from Turkish it means Friday, which is the holy day of the
week in Islam
Frigidarium
the main cold room of the Roman public bath, which could also contain unheated pools
Göbektaşı
a heated slab of marble in the sıcaklık of a Turkish hamam
Gusül
a total ablution for religious reasons
Gusülhane
a place where total ablution is performed
Hadis
a written source in Islamic belief, which is “sayings” or “traditions” of
the Prophet
Halvet
a very hot small bathing cell in Turkish hamam
Hamam
a Turkish steam bath
Hypocaust
literary means ‘a furnace that heats from below’, invented during the
Roman times
Icareteyn
a system of double rent started in the 18th century
Ilıca
thermo-mineral baths in open places in Turkey
Kadıs
a Muslim judge
Kaplıca
covered ılıca
Kargir
stone or brick
Kese
a rough cloth that is used in Turkish hamams to wipe away dead skin
cells
Konak
a large mansion
87
Koran
sacred writings in Islamic belief, which Allah revealed to the prophet
Muhammed
Külhan
a stokepit that is kept in a separate room in Turkish hamam. It heats
the water and the hamam
Külhancı
the keeper of the stokepit in Turkish hamam
Külliye
a building complex that is composed of medreses, mosque, imaret,
hamam
Kurna
a basin for washing in Turkish hamam
Laconicum
some Roman baths also contained this section, which is a very hot
dry steam room
Lohusa hamam
a special tradition in hamam of a woman after childbirth
Loutron
a cold-water washing room in Greek gymnasium
Mahalle
a neighbourhood
Medrese
building that functions as a teaching institution primarily of Islamic
sciences
Natatio
a large unheated swimming pool, which could be roofed or open in
Roman Baths
Natır
the female attendant in Turkish hamam giving the massage and the
rubbing service
Palaestra
a wrestling hall usually attached to Ancient Greek gymnasium
Peştemal
a special towel for bathing in Turkish hamam
Sıcaklık
a hot room in Turkish hamam
Soğukluk
a warm room in Turkish hamam that in winter could be used as a
dressing room
Soyunmalık
an undressing room in Turkish hamam that is also called camegah
Tellak
the male attendant at Turkish hamam
Tepidarium
the warm room, situated between caldarium and frigidarium. It was
an intermediate room for a bather to be accustomed to heat in caldarium in Roman Baths
Thermae
exclusively large public baths during the Roman period. It also embraces a variety of secondary functions like sportive, educational and
social
Tholos
is a circular structure or any round shape of a building in Ancient
Greek architecture
Tulumbacı hamam
a fire squad hamam
88
Umayyad
the first dynasty of caliphs of the Islamic empire, which was based in
Syria and ruled the Islamic world from ca. 600 to 750 AD
Vakıf
an Islamic charitable endowment often intended for the upkeep of a
religious building, educational establishment or hospital
Yalıs
villas or seaside mansions
89
5.2 Figures
5.2.1 List of Figures
Fig. 1: Hellenistic gymnasium, Miletus. Restored view. Source: Yegül 1992 ......................91
Fig. 2: Palaestra, Olympia. Groundplan. Source: Yegül 1992.............................................91
Fig. 3: Greek baths, Gortys. Plan (Ginouivés). Source: Yegül 1992 ...................................92
Fig. 4: Greek baths, Gela (Sicily). Hip baths. Source: Yegül 1992......................................93
Fig. 5: Greek baths, Gortys. Rotunda with hip baths (Ginouivés). Source: Yegül 1992.....93
Fig. 6: Baths of Caracalla, Rome. View on remains of cisterns. Source: DeLain 1997......94
Fig. 7: Baths of Caracalla, Rome. Restored model. Source: Fagan 2002 .........................94
Fig. 8: Baths of Caracalla, Rome. Central block, restored plan. Source: modified after
DeLain 1997 ...................................................................................................................95
Fig. 9: Bath of Caracalla, Rome. Central block, schematic plan. Source: DeLain 1997......95
Fig. 10: Bath of Caracalla, Rome. Schematic plan, a possible route taken by a bather .......96
Fig. 11: Haseki Hürrem hamam, Istanbul. Cross-section and ground plan. Source: modified
after Godwin 1971 ..........................................................................................................96
Fig. 12: Külhan in Turkish hamam. Source: Taşçıoğlu 1998................................................97
Fig. 13: Göbektaşı in sıcaklık, Kılıç Ali Paşa hamam, Istanbul. Source: Yılmazkaya 2003 .98
Fig. 14: Hamam domes with “elephant eyes” in the foreground, Kastamonu (Turkey).
Source: Godwin 1971 ....................................................................................................99
Fig. 15: Marble kurna in Turkish hamam. Source: Taşçıoğlu 1998...................................100
Fig. 16: Cupolas (sky lantern). Çemberlitaş hamam, Istanbul. Yılmazskaya 2003 ...........101
Fig. 17: Çemberlitaş hamam, Istanbul. Front view. Source: Cichocki 2005 .....................102
Fig. 18: Çemberlitaş hamam, Istanbul. Ground plan. Source: Glück 1921 ......................102
Fig. 19: Divanyolu, Istanbul, circa 1900. The mosque of Atik Ali Paşa, Constantines column
and Çemberlitaş hamam with its sliced dome. Source Çelik 1986.............................103
Fig. 20: Bouvard’s proposal for Beyazit square (1902). Beyazit mosque is on the left.
Source: Çelik 1986 ......................................................................................................103
Fig. 21: Regularized Divanyolu, circa 1900. The Hippodrome is upper left and the Firuzağa
mosque is on the right. Source Çelik 1986.................................................................104
Fig. 22: Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres: The Turkish bath (1863). Source: R.M. and R.
Hagen 2005 ..................................................................................................................104
Fig. 23: Hamam in Hotel Çırağan Palace, Istanbul. Source: Linden 2004 (FAZ) ..............105
Fig. 24: Király baths, Budapest. After reconstruction. Source: Csörnyei 1970.................106
Fig. 25: Király baths, Budapest. Turkish pool. Source: Csörnyei 1970 ...........................106
Fig. 26: Király baths, Budapest. Ground plan. Source: Csörnyei 1970 ...........................107
90
5.2.2 Figures
Fig. 1: Hellenistic gymnasium, Miletus. Restored view. Source: Yegül 1992
Fig. 2: Palaestra, Olympia. Groundplan. Source: Yegül 1992
91
Fig. 3: Greek baths, Gortys. Plan (Ginouivés). Source: Yegül 1992
92
Fig. 4: Greek baths, Gela (Sicily). Hip baths. Source: Yegül 1992
Fig. 5: Greek baths, Gortys. Rotunda with hip baths (Ginouivés). Source: Yegül 1992
93
Fig. 6: Baths of Caracalla, Rome. View on remains of cisterns. Source: DeLain 1997
Fig. 7: Baths of Caracalla, Rome. Restored model. Source: Fagan 2002
94
Fig. 8: Baths of Caracalla, Rome. Central block, restored plan. Source: modified after DeLain 1997
Fig. 9: Bath of Caracalla, Rome. Central block, schematic plan. Source: DeLain 1997
95
Fig. 10: Bath of Caracalla, Rome. Schematic plan, a possible route taken by a bather
Fig. 11: Haseki Hürrem hamam, Istanbul. Cross-section and ground plan. Source: modified after
Godwin 1971
96
Fig. 12: Külhan in Turkish hamam. Source: Taşçıoğlu 1998
97
Fig. 13: Göbektaşı in sıcaklık, Kılıç Ali Paşa hamam, Istanbul. Source: Yılmazkaya 2003
98
Fig. 14:
Hamam domes with “elephant eyes” in the foreground, Kastamonu (Turkey).
Source:
Godwin 1971
99
Fig. 15: Marble kurna in Turkish hamam. Source: Taşçıoğlu 1998
100
Fig. 16: Cupolas (sky lantern). Çemberlitaş hamam, Istanbul. Yılmazskaya 2003
101
Fig. 17: Çemberlitaş hamam, Istanbul. Front view. Source: Cichocki 2005
A - Soyunmalık
(Camegah)
B - Soğukluk
C - Sıcaklık
D - Halvet
Fig. 18: Çemberlitaş hamam, Istanbul. Ground plan. Source: Glück 1921
102
Fig. 19: Divanyolu, Istanbul, circa 1900. The mosque of Atik Ali Paşa, Constantines column and Çemberlitaş hamam with its sliced dome. Source Çelik 1986
Fig. 20:
Bouvard’s proposal for Beyazit square (1902).
Beyazit mosque is on the left.
Source:
Çelik 1986
103
Fig. 21: Regularized Divanyolu, circa 1900. The Hippodrome is upper left and the Firuzağa mosque is
on the right. Source Çelik 1986
Fig. 22: Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres: The Turkish bath (1863). Source: R.M. and R. Hagen 2005
104
Fig. 23: Hamam in Hotel Çırağan Palace, Istanbul. Source: Linden 2004 (FAZ)
105
Fig. 24: Király baths, Budapest. After reconstruction. Source: Csörnyei 1970
Fig. 25: Király baths, Budapest. Turkish pool. Source: Csörnyei 1970
106
Fig. 26: Király baths, Budapest. Ground plan. Source: Csörnyei 1970
107
5.2.3 References of Figures
Çelik, Z., The Remaking of Istanbul: Portrait of an Ottoman City in the Nineteenth Century,
Seattle: University of Washington Press 1986
Cichocki, N., Continuity and Change in Turkish Bathing Culture in Istanbul: The Life Story of
the Çemberlitaş Hamam, Turkish Studies, Vol.6/No.1 2005, 93-143
Csörnyei, S. and Horváth, J., Heil- und Schwimmbäder in Budapest, Budapest: Pannonia
Verlag 1970
DeLaine, J., The Baths of Caracalla: A study in the design, construction, and economics of
large-scale buildings in imperial Rome, Portsmouth: Cushing Malloy 1997
Fagan, G.G., Bathing in public in the Roman World, USA: The University of Michigan Press
1999
Glück, H., Probleme des Wölbungsbaues: Die Bäder Konstantinopels, Wien:
Halm und
Goldmann 1921
Godwin, G., A history of Ottoman architecture, London: Thames and Hudson 1971
Hagen, R.-M. and Hagen, R., Meisterwerke im Detail, Köln: Taschen 2005
Linden, P., Die Hitze unter der Kuppel, in Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung
22/02/2004
Taşçıoğlu, T., The Turkish hamam, Istanbul: Univeler 1989
Yegül, F., Baths and bathing in Classical Antiquity, New York: The MIT Press 1992
Yılmazkaya, O., A Light on a tradition and culture: Turkish Baths. A Guide to the historic
Turkish baths of Istanbul, Istanbul: Çitlembik LTD. 2003
108