The Eski Kaplica (Old Baths) was commissioned by Murad I to be built over the hot springs at the foot of the hill in Çekirge using existing Byzantine (and previously Roman) foundations. The building was restored in 917 A.H. (1511), 1617, 1680 and more recently in the late eighties when its management was passed onto an adjacent hotel. The wooden annexes used for lodging and the adjoining Armutlu baths were demolished during the recent renovation.
The three sections of the hamam, entrance hall, cold room or tepidarium (sogukluk) and hot room (harara), are composed of four square rooms of equal size arranged on the north south axes with entrances to the east and the west. The entrance hall consists of two domed rooms extended with semi-domed spaces. The cold and hot rooms contain private bathing spaces along the walls differentiated from the central space of the room with eight Byzantine columns forming an inscribed octagon in plan. The columns support the domes into which glass "eyes" were inserted for lighting. In the hot room, a large circular pool occupies the center.
Sources:
Aru, Kemal Ahmet. Türk hamamlari etüdü. Istanbul: Istanbul Matbaacilik T.A.O., 1949.
Baykal, Kâzim. Bursa ve anitlari. Turkey: Türkiye Anit-Çevre Turizm Degerlerini Koruma Vakfi, 1982.
Gabriel, Albert. Une capitale turque, Brousse-Bursa. Paris: E. de Boccard, 1958.
Goodwin, Godfrey. A history of Ottoman architecture. 1971. Reprint, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1997.
