DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.24719#0231
1G2
BYZANTINE AND TURKISH BATHS.
Considerable sums were employed j|n the works of the mosque itself, but the expenses
stopped there, and the medrece and the bath were walled up, and in this state M. Texier found
them at the time of his visit. In order to penetrate into the ancient Mussulman school, it was
necessary to make a breach in the wall. He found the interior occupied by a vigorous vege-
tation, — a virgin forest had grown in the middle of the enclosure; he made the plan of this
curious edifice, which had not been disfigured by restorations. The richness of the materials
employed in its construction astonished him. The columns were of the purest marble, and of
the finest jasper, brought no doubt from the church of the Apostles, and from the sepulchral
chapels of the emperors.
Peter Gyllius, in his Topography of Constantinople, mentions the bath of Mahomet II. as
the most magnificent monument of this kind which exists in Constantinople. lie gives a
description sufficiently minute and very intelligible when one has the plan of the building
under one’s eyes, but simply confusing to tliose who might desire to translate it into drawing.
People are apt to forget that architecture is a mathematical science, and that it is very difficult
to understand geometrical problems, unless one has the diagram before one’s eyes.
The description of Peter Gyllius induced M. Texier to search for this edifice; and every-
where in the environs of the mosque he inquired for the baths of the Sultan Mahomet. No
one could give him a satisfactory answer; all were absolutely ignorant of what he asked for.
He had visited without success all the baths in operation in the quarter, and not one answered
to the description his predecessor had drawn of them.
M. Texier had given up his researches, when, two years after, passing near a building the
doors and windows of which were walled up, and which he had seen many times without
remarking it, he found an ingress between some rough stones which were broken away; he
stepped through the gap, and was agreeably surprised to see, notwithstanding the obscurity
that existed, that he had entered the edifice so vainly sought for during so long a time.
He had the windows opened, and examined in detail all the arrangements of the building.
The great cupolas were split through their centre, and the marble of the pavements had been
carried away; but the decoration of the interior was sufficiently preserved to give an idea of
the original plan of the building.
The Turks have completely forgotten that this edifice was constructed by Mahomet II.;
this is why no inhabitant could point out the situation; it is only known under the common
appellation, Tclioucour Ilammam.
To describe this edifice, we need only adopt the description that Vitruvius gives of the
ancient Homan baths. We have put together the details, which have escaped all commentators;
and if our readers compare the plans composed by the various editors of Vitruvius with those
of the Turkish building, they will see how the idea of Vitruvius is elucidated by the latter in
a manner at once simple and practical.
Description of the Bath.
The baths of Mahomet II. are amongst those called by the Turks chifte (double), because
they have apartments for men and for women, with one furnace or hypocaust, common to the
two sets of baths. The two buildings, united by a wall, form externally a large square building,
measuring about 40 by 50 yards. (See Plate LVIII.)
The men’s bath is situated to the left and the women’s to the right of the front. The
latter is nai’rower than the men’s, because the furnaces are on that side.
The general elevation of the building is very simple, consisting of a plain stone wall with
two doors in it, without any ornament. At the level of the imposts there are some small windows
admitting light and air to the first apartment, or apodyterium. The entrance leads into a
large room 82 feet square, covered by a dome with pendentives. The side walls were decorated
with glazed tiles; in the centre was a large vase of marble, standing upon a pedestal, from
which issued numerous streams of fresh water. The vase of Pergamus, now in the Louvre,
was applied to a like purpose for more than a century.
Around the hall was a marble platform, upon which were stretched mattresses with
curtains round them; here the bathers undressed — they were then prepared by the servants
of the establishment to enter the tepidarium, by being covered with towels of various sizes,
BYZANTINE AND TURKISH BATHS.
Considerable sums were employed j|n the works of the mosque itself, but the expenses
stopped there, and the medrece and the bath were walled up, and in this state M. Texier found
them at the time of his visit. In order to penetrate into the ancient Mussulman school, it was
necessary to make a breach in the wall. He found the interior occupied by a vigorous vege-
tation, — a virgin forest had grown in the middle of the enclosure; he made the plan of this
curious edifice, which had not been disfigured by restorations. The richness of the materials
employed in its construction astonished him. The columns were of the purest marble, and of
the finest jasper, brought no doubt from the church of the Apostles, and from the sepulchral
chapels of the emperors.
Peter Gyllius, in his Topography of Constantinople, mentions the bath of Mahomet II. as
the most magnificent monument of this kind which exists in Constantinople. lie gives a
description sufficiently minute and very intelligible when one has the plan of the building
under one’s eyes, but simply confusing to tliose who might desire to translate it into drawing.
People are apt to forget that architecture is a mathematical science, and that it is very difficult
to understand geometrical problems, unless one has the diagram before one’s eyes.
The description of Peter Gyllius induced M. Texier to search for this edifice; and every-
where in the environs of the mosque he inquired for the baths of the Sultan Mahomet. No
one could give him a satisfactory answer; all were absolutely ignorant of what he asked for.
He had visited without success all the baths in operation in the quarter, and not one answered
to the description his predecessor had drawn of them.
M. Texier had given up his researches, when, two years after, passing near a building the
doors and windows of which were walled up, and which he had seen many times without
remarking it, he found an ingress between some rough stones which were broken away; he
stepped through the gap, and was agreeably surprised to see, notwithstanding the obscurity
that existed, that he had entered the edifice so vainly sought for during so long a time.
He had the windows opened, and examined in detail all the arrangements of the building.
The great cupolas were split through their centre, and the marble of the pavements had been
carried away; but the decoration of the interior was sufficiently preserved to give an idea of
the original plan of the building.
The Turks have completely forgotten that this edifice was constructed by Mahomet II.;
this is why no inhabitant could point out the situation; it is only known under the common
appellation, Tclioucour Ilammam.
To describe this edifice, we need only adopt the description that Vitruvius gives of the
ancient Homan baths. We have put together the details, which have escaped all commentators;
and if our readers compare the plans composed by the various editors of Vitruvius with those
of the Turkish building, they will see how the idea of Vitruvius is elucidated by the latter in
a manner at once simple and practical.
Description of the Bath.
The baths of Mahomet II. are amongst those called by the Turks chifte (double), because
they have apartments for men and for women, with one furnace or hypocaust, common to the
two sets of baths. The two buildings, united by a wall, form externally a large square building,
measuring about 40 by 50 yards. (See Plate LVIII.)
The men’s bath is situated to the left and the women’s to the right of the front. The
latter is nai’rower than the men’s, because the furnaces are on that side.
The general elevation of the building is very simple, consisting of a plain stone wall with
two doors in it, without any ornament. At the level of the imposts there are some small windows
admitting light and air to the first apartment, or apodyterium. The entrance leads into a
large room 82 feet square, covered by a dome with pendentives. The side walls were decorated
with glazed tiles; in the centre was a large vase of marble, standing upon a pedestal, from
which issued numerous streams of fresh water. The vase of Pergamus, now in the Louvre,
was applied to a like purpose for more than a century.
Around the hall was a marble platform, upon which were stretched mattresses with
curtains round them; here the bathers undressed — they were then prepared by the servants
of the establishment to enter the tepidarium, by being covered with towels of various sizes,