Ismail Pasa Baths
Iznik, Türkiye
This small hamam near the Istanbul Gate of Iznik is said to have been private baths belonging to a local bey named Ismail. The exact date of construction is not known. Estimated to have been built during the 15th or the 16th century, the baths have reached our day in a dilapidated condition with only two out of four domes standing.

The building was probably entered from a vaulted eyvan whose remaining walls occupy the street side to the south. The baths have a rectangular plan divided into quadrants. Each its individual room, the quadrants are accessed along an anti-clockwise circulation path beginning at the entrance and display a variety of decorative schemes.

The first room on the southeast corner is crowned with a dome composed of ten ribs with an oculus at the center. A band of large triangular prisms that meet the triangular ends of the ten slices make the transition into the dome. The adjacent room to the north features a whorl-dome with oculus transitioned with nine rings of muqarnas that begin low on the wall and get tighter towards the dome. A door on the western wall leads into the adjacent room where the pattern of triangular prisms is reiterated with a dome composed of sixteen ribs. Little remains of this dome. Entering into the following room to its south completes the circle. Also missing large sections of its dome, this room is significant for the decorative plasterwork on its walls. The construction of the walls is roughhewn stone and brick plastered on the inside; the domes and pendentives have been built entirely in brick.

Sources:

1943. Iznik:Tarih ve Müze Komitesi Yayini. Istanbul: Kenan Matbaasi.

1972. Türkiye'de Vakif Abideler ve Eski Eserler. Volume IV. Ankara: Vakiflar Genel Müdürlügü Yayinlari.

Aru, Kemal Ahmet. 1949. Türk hamamlari etüdü. Istanbul: Istanbul Matbaacilik.

Eyice, Semavi. 1988. Iznik: Tarihçesi ve Eski Eserleri (Nicaea: The History and the Monuments). Istanbul: Sanat Tarihi Arastirmalari Dergisi Yayinlari.

Yalman, Bedri. 1999. Iznik (Nicaea). Bursa: Governorship of Bursa, Provincial Directorate of Tourism.
Location
Near Istanbul Gate of Iznik, Iznik, Türkiye
Images & Videos
Associated Names
Events
mid. 15th C. to late 16th C.
Style Periods
1299-1922
Variant Names
Ismail Bey Hamami
Variant
Selçuk Hamami
Variant
Building Usages
baths
Keywords