ANADOLU SU KÜLTÜRÜ TÜRK HAMAMLARI VE YIKANMA GELENEĞİNİN KÖKLERİ VE GELECEĞİ

Abstract

From the sacred springs watched over by the formidable deities of Anatolia’s prehistoric past to the modestly beautiful clusters of domes of hamams that grace almost every neighborhood of Turkish cities, baths have become an intimate and inseparable part of Anatolian civilizations. The highland palaces of Bronze age and Iron age settlements, such as Hattusa, Aslantas and Zincirli, had bath chambers with remarkably advanced water supply and drainage systems. Greek and Hellenistic gymnasiums of Asia Minor displayed marble basins and pools for the use and enjoyment of athletes. The bath-gymnasium complexes of the Roman imperial era with their lofty, vaulted interiors and sparkling swimming pools were the special creations of Anatolia’s diverse cultural traditions and the pinnacles of pride for Anatolian cities. This heritage of water and bathing smoothly and seamlessly ushered in the culture of baths and bathing that flourished through Christian, Byzantine and Islamic-Turkish period down to our day. The classical tradition of bathing and hygiene resonated through Anatolia’s past, sustained by the Islamic core beliefs in cleanliness and leading to a new blossoming of public bathing habits and a renaissance of Islamic-Turkish bath architecture. The thermal magic of the warm, steamy interiors of the Turkish hamam under the twin kling lights of floating domes offered physical and social regeneration and, especially in the hidden world of women’s baths, the intimacy of a classless society. Hamams and spas intrigued and charmed many European visitors -such as Lady Mary Montague in the 18th century, and Julia Pardoe a century later- and provided inspiration for many Orientalist painters in memorable works such as Ingres’ Le bain Turc (1862). In the West, following the misplaced Early Christian notion of alousia (or the sanctity of “being unwashed”) and aided by the fear of several devastating plagues, bathing and water evoked feelings of fear and repulsion. In sum Islamic East washed, Christian West did not. Finally, in a world where traditional values and habits are steadily loosing ground, what is the future of Turkish baths and bathing culture? Can we restore the historic baths of Anatolia to their former glory and endow them with new functions relevant to those of the contemporary world including, perhaps, tourism? Can we re-locate them in their original and sustaining neighborhood context? Can we reestablish and embroider the sacred traditions of water and bathing into the diverse cultural past of Anatolia where they belong?