Haseki Hürrem Sultan Hamamı, Ottoman hammam in Sultanahmet, Turkey
Haseki Hürrem Sultan Hamamı is a dual-bath complex with symmetrical sections featuring intricate marble surfaces, soaring domes, and detailed stone carving throughout. The structure, stretching about 75 meters (246 feet), houses separate facilities arranged along a shared central axis for male and female users.
Architect Mimar Sinan built this bathhouse in 1556 for Hürrem Sultan, wife of Suleiman the Magnificent, replacing earlier Roman bathing facilities on the same site. The location honors the city's long tradition of public bathing while introducing a new Ottoman design approach.
The bathhouse maintains the tradition of gender-separated bathing spaces, a practice central to Turkish daily life for centuries. Visitors experience the authentic way locals have approached cleansing and relaxation through traditional scrubbing and massage techniques.
The bathhouse welcomes visitors within a historic setting that remains accessible to modern guests. It helps to know in advance when specific sections open for different visitor categories to plan your time comfortably.
This was a pioneering design when it was built: the first bathhouse to arrange men's and women's sections along the same axis rather than back-to-back. This arrangement made better use of space and influenced how later hammams were designed.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
