Review: Çemberlitaş Hamamı in Istanbul: The Biographical Memoir of a Turkish Bath, by Nina Macaraig
| Autor: | Emine Fetvaci |
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| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
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| Zdroj: | Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. 79:106-107 |
| ISSN: | 2150-5926 0037-9808 |
| DOI: | 10.1525/jsah.2020.79.1.106 |
| Popis: | Nina Macaraig Cemberlitas Hamami in Istanbul: The Biographical Memoir of a Turkish Bath Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2019, 392 pp., 4 tables, 41 color and 51 b/w illus. $91 (cloth), ISBN 9781474434102 Cemberlitas Hamami in Istanbul traces the history of an Ottoman public bath (hamam) across nearly five centuries, beginning with its construction in 1583 and continuing into the present. In this innovative and wide-ranging work, Nina Macaraig addresses not only this specific building still in operation today but also topics as diverse as public bath construction from the Roman period onward, the function and use of public baths in the Ottoman Empire, and social life in Istanbul over the centuries. The last of these topics is treated throughout the book in chronological fashion, from the social functions of urban charitable foundations in the early modern period to eighteenth-century social unrest, nineteenth-century modernization efforts, twentieth-century urban renewal, and, finally, twenty-first-century concerns such as heritage preservation, digital platforms, and tourist mind-sets. Throughout, Macaraig writes in an accessible, engaging manner, and her erudition on all topics related to the bath is impressive. Cemberlitas Hamami is located on the Divan Yolu, the main thoroughfare between Hagia Sophia and the covered bazaar in Istanbul, and shares the name of its neighborhood: Cemberlitas (the Column with Rings), the Turkish name given to the Column of Constantine located there. The hamam was built as part of a large charitable foundation sponsored by Nurbanu Sultan, the mother of the Ottoman sultan Murad III (r. 1574–95) and wife of Selim II (r. 1566–74). The bath's main purpose was to generate revenue to maintain the mosque complex in Uskudar, now known as the Atik Valide Camii (Old Queen Mother's Mosque), which was the heart of the queen mother's foundation. Cemberlitas Hamami still functions today, unlike the three other hamams elsewhere in the city that were once part of the endowment but have since been reduced to storage facilities or industrial workshops. Macaraig's … |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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