Beyazıt Bath

Beyazıt Bath

The Beyazıt Hamam is located in Istanbul's Beyazit district on Ordu Street. It was built by the mother of Yavuz Sultan Selim, Hürrem Sultan, in order to provide revenue for the Mosque built in Edirne in the 15th century. It is also known as the Patrona Halil Hamamı, the bath takes its name from Patrona Halil, who was a rebel and worked for some time as a tellak (wash boy) in the Hamam. The structure has separate sections for both men and women. The entrance door of the women’s section is on Kimyager Derviş Paşa Street and the door of men’s section is on Ordu Street. One enters the men’s section from the camekan, a court surrounded by small individual changing rooms roofed by a dome. From there, one passes into the ılıklık (lukewarm section), where four bathrooms covered by small domes and a cleaning room draw the attention of visitors. There are sofas which are covered by a dome and presumably each one has three kurnas (marble basin) on both the left and right sides of the ıliklik. The harare (hot section) contains halvets roofed by domes. In addition to these, there was originally a marble plinth (göbek taşı) found in each of the four corners of the harare; however, these have not made it into our times., The women’s section of the hamam is similar to men’s section that the water well that meeted of need of water   The water well responsible for meeting the water needs of the hamam is located near the women’s section behind the Central Library of Istanbul University. The Hamam was closed in the 1930s and has been used as a warehouse. While it was being used for storage, it was damaged due to careless maintenance and remained as such for several years. It now belongs to Istanbul University and is being repaired with the utmost to restore its original aethetic beauty.