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REBIRTH OF AN ICON

REBIRTH OF AN ICON

ZEYREK ÇİNİLİ HAMAM

Zeyrek Çinili Hamam, a hidden 500-year-old treasure in Istanbul, opened in September 2023 following an ambitious thirteen-year long restoration project. Accompanied by a museum, contemporary art space and private gardens for events, the structure will be a new destination to soak up the city’s culture.

Located in Zeyrek, where ancient way of life still makes its presence felt, the Zeyrek Çinili Hamam is a significant structure built during the glorious reign of Süleyman the Magnificent by the greatest Ottoman architect Sinan with the commission of Barbaros Hayreddin Pasha, the renowned admiral of the Ottoman navy.

ZEYREK ÇİNİLİ HAMAM ZEYREK ÇİNİLİ HAMAM
ZEYREK ÇİNİLİ HAMAM
© Murat Germen

The hammam justly deserves its name (çinili means covered with tiles) thanks to the splendid Iznik tiles exclusively produced for the hammam in the 16th century and which, once, covered the entirety of its interior up to a certain level. No hammams of the period exhibited such a rich and diverse tile decoration program. However, they were removed, sold and otherwise dispersed around the world sold the second half of the 19th century.

Succumbing to the modern way of life and much neglection, the Zeyrek Çinili Hamam went into oblivion but was then fortunately revived after a painstaking restoration project initiated by the new owner of the hammam, The Marmara Group. The hammam has made a wonderful comeback not only as an architectural masterpiece, but also as a gateway to further research that will shed more light on our history thanks to the archaeological and historical finds obtained during its restoration.

THE CISTERN

Accessed from the entrance courtyard and used as foundation by Mimar Sinan for Zeyrek Çinili Hamam, the Byzantine cisterns offer an insight into the pre-hammam period of the district. Located under the women’s cold room, the cistern is home to various plaster-incised graffiti of galleys and bastard galleys. The maker(s) and date of these drawings, which depict the vessels of the period in detail, are unknown.

The cistern also hosts a rotating program of site-specific art installations contributing to the cultural aspect of Zeyrek Çinili Hamam.

ARCHITECTURAL HIGHLIGHTS

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01
Portal of women’s section, entrance to the cold room © Murat Germen
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The central fountain in men’s cold room © İbrahim Özbunar
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Dry paintings and tile traces in the niche on the entrance wall in the women’s cold room © Orhan Cem Çetin
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Marble floor coverings and tile traces in the men’s warm room © İbrahim Özbunar
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Muqarnas on the dome of the room adjacent to the men’s warm room © Murat Germen
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General view of the men’s hot room © Murat Germen
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View of the women’s hot room through the private hot chamber door © İbrahim Özbunar
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Muqarnas and elephant’s eyes on the central and right dome of the men’s hot room © Murat Germen
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Muqarnas and hexagonal panels on the wall opposite the entrance of the men’s hot room © İbrahim Özbunar
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Opening to the cold water storage © Orhan Cem Çetin
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Detail of elephant’s eyes on the dome © Murat Germen
HISTORICAL TIMELINE
BYZANTINE PERIOD UNTIL THE CONQUEST OF ISTANBUL Constantinople and Pera, image from Liber insularum Cycladum, c. 1485 akg-images/British Library, AKG5289576
BYZANTINE PERIOD UNTIL THE CONQUEST OF ISTANBUL Les églises de Constantinople, Jean Ebersolt and Adolphe Thiers, 1913 Fine Arts Library Harvard University

BYZANTINE PERIOD UNTIL THE CONQUEST OF ISTANBUL

Zeyrek was a significant site during the Byzantine period, too. The 12th-century Pantocrator Monastery and the dynastic mausoleum overlooking the Golden Horn were among the notable structures in the district.

A NEW IDENTITY TO THE OLD CITY Prospect of Constantinople, part 11, Melchior Lorck (1526/27–1583) Leiden University Libraries, BPL 1758/11

A NEW IDENTITY TO THE OLD CITY

Following the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by the Ottomans, the main church and the accompanying buildings of the Pantocrator were converted into a mosque and convent. After the completion of Mehmed II’s Fatih Madrasa complex in 1470, the district’s religious importance started to diminish.

BUILDING THE ÇİNİLİ HAMAM

Portrait of Barbarossa, Agostino Veneziano, 1535, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Elisha Whiteley Collection 49.95.4

BUILDING THE ÇİNİLİ HAMAM History of Sultan Süleyman (detail), Sayyid Luqman, 1579, CBL T 413, f.115v © The Trustees of the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin

BUILDING THE ÇİNİLİ HAMAM

Barbaros Hayreddin Pasha, the Grand Admiral of the Ottoman Navy, commissioned Chief Royal Architect Sinan to build a double hammam on the slope of the Zeyrek promontory. The hammam was constructed at a time period between 1530–1540.

HAMMAMS OF ZEYREK The Great Fire of Constantinople, 1581, miniature from Codice Cicogna akg-images/Cameraphoto, AKG296738

HAMMAMS OF ZEYREK

By the 17th century, Zeyrek had become a predominantly Muslim residential area with mostly middle-class inhabitants. In addition to Çinili Hamam, the Haydarhane, Azebler and the Çukur hammams were among the popular bathhouses of the district.

GREAT FIRES AND EARTHQUAKES OF ISTANBUL Turkish baths for women, A.F. Lemaitre, Historia de Turquia, J.M. Jouannin and J.v. Gaver, 1840 Prisma by Dukas/Universal Images Group/Getty Images Türkiye

GREAT FIRES AND EARTHQUAKES OF ISTANBUL

Istanbul’s most densely populated areas were impacted by the Cibali fires of 1718, 1756 and 1782. Çinili Hamam was used as military stables during this time. Although the earthquakes of 1754 and 1766 caused severe damage, there is no credible evidence that the hammam was affected.

NEW OWNERS AND RESTORATIONS The Vestiary of Çinili Hamam, engraving, Charles White, Three Years in Constantinople, vol. 3, Henry Colburn, London, 1846

NEW OWNERS AND RESTORATIONS

Ali Bey, the first private owner of the hammam, undertook extensive restorations between 1833–1850 followed by subsequent owners contributing to its maintenance. Most of the hammam’s tiles were sold in Paris by antique dealer Ludovic Lupti in the second half of the 19th century.

NEW ADDITIONS AND REPAIRS Çinili Hamam from the west, 1969 German Archaeological Institute, D-DAI-IST-R2838 © W. Schiele

NEW ADDITIONS AND REPAIRS

New additions were made to the women’s entrance, the furnace and the water storage in the 20th century and the original flooring and the lead roof cover were replaced. The “Historic Areas of Istanbul”, which includes the Zeyrek district, was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985.

ZEYREK ÇİNİLİ HAMAM OPENS WITH A NEW IDENTITY

The main iwan and private hot chambers in the men’s section of Zeyrek Çinili Hamam before restoration © Sıtkı Kösemen
The main iwan and private hot chambers in the men’s section of Zeyrek Çinili Hamam after restoration © Murat Germen

ZEYREK ÇİNİLİ HAMAM OPENS WITH A NEW IDENTITY

An extensive thirteen-year-long restoration project was initiated after the hammam was acquired by The Marmara Group in 2010. Today the structure will continue to function as a hammam and contribute to the cultural life of the city with its museum building and cultural events.