Büyük Hamam · 1571–1590
An Ottoman public bath on the site of a medieval church — still a working hammam.
Ottoman bath · 1571–1590
Four centuries of Nicosia, in one bath.
Büyük Hamam was created as an Ottoman public bath between 1571 and 1590, on the site of a medieval church in the walled city of Nicosia. It has been a bath ever since — and it still is.
Four moments.
Before 1571
A medieval church
Before the Ottoman period, the site belonged to the church of St George of the Latins, from the Lusignan era. Carved stonework at the entrance still recalls that earlier building, absorbed into the bath rather than cleared away.
1571–1590
An Ottoman bath
In the decades after the Ottoman arrival in Cyprus, the building became a public Turkish bath. The domes, the heated marble platform and the sequence of cool, warm and hot rooms belong to this period, and the bath is recorded as a seven-domed hammam.
1572
Büyük Han next door
Büyük Han, the great caravanserai of Nicosia, was built nearby in 1572. Today the bath stands on the street just behind it, and the two buildings share the same chapter of the city's history.
Today
Still a working bath
The building belongs to the Evkaf foundation and still does what it was made for: it is a working Turkish bath that guests can experience, not only look at.
Neighbours
Two buildings, one chapter of Nicosia.
Büyük Hamam and Büyük Han belong to the same early Ottoman chapter of the walled city, and today they stand side by side: the great han with its courtyard, cafés and craft shops, and the working bath on İrfan Bey Sokak just behind it.
Büyük Han · 1572
A two-storey Ottoman caravanserai around a courtyard — today home to cafés and craft shops.
Today
A working Turkish bath in the old city.
The building has not been turned into a museum display. Its historic rooms now meet professional hammam and massage care, in the same quarter the bath has served for more than four centuries.