The Çarşi Hamam, also known as the Market Bath or the Central Bath, is located in the region of the present-day Epano Skala in Mytilene, at the junction of Lorentzos Mavilis, A. Simantiris and Agia Sophia Streets, in the centre of the former Ottoman market in the district of Azizie. It was part of a larger complex that included, among other buildings, the Yeni Djami (Mosque), the religious tribunal (Mekheme), the seminary (Medrese), the residence of the Mufti[1] etc.. In the Ottoman period, the baths were a welcoming place for foreigners coming to the city and were part of the wider religious and social context of Islam. They were intertwined with the Islamic religion, according to which the care and cleansing of the bathers’ bodies symbolised the elimination of their sins and the purification of their souls.
Archetypes of the Central Bath date back to the ancient balneae and the Roman thermae, while its typological characteristics refer to the secular Ottoman architecture of the 16th c. which followed in the footsteps of former Byzantine urban conventions. Nevertheless, the building was constructed much later and dates back to the first quarter of the 19th c., a period with a tendency towards an obvious standardisation in the application and execution of older architectural models and in accordance to the spirit of the time. Although there is no opinio communis (unanimity) in research regarding the issue of the exact dating of the monument, the Çarşi Hamam was probably built by the Nazir[2] of Mytilene, Mustafa Ağa Kulaksız, at the same period that the adjacent Yeni Mosque was erected, i.e. around 1826, as we are informed by the surviving-according to the turkologist Dr John R. Barnes- foundation inscription above the central door of the bath, on which the Hijri[3] year 1241, i.e. 1826 AD, can be discerned.
The Çarşi Hamam is the largest hamam on the island and belongs to the typological category of the linear arrangement bathhouses, according to which the rooms are developed in a line along an axis (N-S), in order for the bather to gradually move from the cold, to the lukewarm and then to the warm room of the baths. It is a monumental dome-shaped building with a rectangular floor plan, 18.92 m. long, 14 m. wide and with a maximum height of 11.40 m. The entrance is located to the east and from there, the bather would enter into the first room with a square floor plan, the so-called cold room (9 x 9 m.). In addition, the main reception and waiting area with the changing rooms would be on the right side of the entrance, as well as a wooden attic for the bathers to rest while they waited. In the centre, the hall is adorned with an octagonal fountain while the space is covered by a hemispherical dome, in the middle of which an oculus light-opening would be visible. The dome rested on an octagonal drum and the entire roof was tiled. The sturdy construction of the building is indicated by its reinforced walls (the walls are 1 m. thick). Next would be the elongated rectangular lukewarm room, measuring 8.20 x 2.5 m., which was covered by a scafoid dome with light-openings. To the east, it communicated with two smaller auxiliary square-shaped personal hygiene rooms, the privy and the barber shop, which are covered by hemispherical vaults. Next is the rectangular warm room, measuring 8.20 x 4.5 m., which is divided, by means of two reinforcing pointed arches, into three parts: a square section in the middle and two smaller rectangular equilateral sections on its sides, covered respectively with hemispherical and scafoid domes. The floor plan, as well as the overall structure of the warm room, is a smaller-scale version of the classical Ottoman bathhouse with four auxiliary rooms (eyvan). Opposite the entrance to the warm room and in the centre of the space, there is a decorative semi-circular niche of the mihrab[4] type, with stalactite-like decorative relief. There are doorways with a symmetrical arrangement on either side, which lead southwards to two particularly square (each side 3.70 m.) warm rooms (halvet) which were intended for individual/private use. They had marble troughs connected to each other by low benches at the base of the walls and were roofed with hemispherical domes with oculus light-openings. At the southernmost end and in contact with the warmer private rooms of the bathhouse, there was the tank (with the combustion chamber), the covering of which was achieved with a single-pitched roof surface.
After the Asia Minor Catastrophe in 1922, the Çarşi Hamam would temporarily be used by refugees as a residence and later as a bathhouse. Over the years, the Archaeological Service took charge of the preservation, restoration and rendering of the monument to the general public. Nowadays, it is maintained in excellent condition and currently hosts select musical and cultural events, such as book presentations, painting and photography exhibitions, etc.
[1] Hieratic rank in the Muslim religion / the interpreter of the Qur’an.
[2] Title of office in the Ottoman administration.
[3] The chronological year according to the Islamic calendar.
[4] The semi-circular sacred niche in Muslim mosques.