The Gothic entrance
Carved stonework at the entrance survives from the medieval building on this site, absorbed into the Ottoman bath rather than cleared away.
Architecture
Stone, dome, marble, light.
A building that keeps its older layers and works with a small vocabulary: cut stone, domes, marble and water.
A bath within its street
The bath sits close within İrfan Bey Sokak, just behind Büyük Han. Its scale is generous but not monumental: it belongs to its neighbourhood.
Seven domes
The bath is recorded as a seven-domed hammam. Each dome marks a room below, the largest crowning the hot room.
Star-shaped openings
Small star-shaped and round glass openings pierce the domes. They bring in beams of daylight while keeping the heat inside, and the star became part of the Büyük Hamam emblem.
Göbek taşı
The heated marble platform at the centre of the hot room — the focus of the whole building.
Marble basins
Marble basins (kurnas) stand around the walls of the bathing rooms. Warm water is drawn from them with a bowl and poured slowly over the shoulders.
The fountain of the cooling hall
A fountain stands at the centre of the cooling hall, with seating and timber galleries around it.
Timber galleries
Wooden galleries around the upper level of the hall bring warmth to the cut stone.
Stone that holds the heat
Thick walls of cut stone keep the warmth of the hot rooms and the cool of the hall. After dark, light washes across the stone of the street front.