Historic Hammams of Trabzon: The Story of the Meydan, Sekiz Direkli and İskender Pasha Hammams

Visitors to Trabzon often start with one question: "When were the historic hammams built, and which is which?" It is not an easy one to answer. Some of the hammams have no building inscription, some have been repaired many times over the centuries, and sources give different years for the same building. This guide draws on academic articles, a university research project, the TDV Encyclopaedia of Islam and the Türkiye Culture Portal of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. It covers only the history, architecture and repair stories of the buildings. It gives no current operating information (hours, reviews), because those details change and are best checked with the place you plan to visit.

When did Trabzon's historic hammam tradition begin, and how many hammams were there?

The hammam tradition gained fresh momentum with the conquest, though buildings from before it stayed in use too. Mehmed the Conqueror took the city in 1461. According to Filiz Uçar's article Four Original Trabzon Hammams (in Turkish), a burst of building followed, and archive records and publications mention "twenty historic hammam buildings" in the city centre. Some of them (the Inner Castle Palace Hammam, the Double Hammam, the Tower Hammam) are considered older than the conquest and were repaired and reused after the city became Turkish. The number of hammams known to have been built after the conquest is 12.

The records give different numbers because each one counted by its own yardstick. Uçar reports that the Double Hammam appears in the 1486 land survey register of the Sanjak of Trabzon, and that the 1583 register lists a hammam among the revenues of the Hatuniye Imaret Foundation. Evliya Çelebi, in his Seyahatname (travel book), lists Trabzon's hammams and then adds that there were "some two hundred and forty-five private palace hammams" besides. The section written by Kudret Emiroğlu for the BlackSea Research Project relies on the Trabzon provincial yearbooks (Salname) and notes 12 hammams in 1870 and 1879, and 15 in 1847 according to a list in an Armenian source. The same section adds that until the 1930s a bathroom at home was found only in the mansions of the upper class, and that ordinary people went to the public hammam.

So the question "how many historic hammams are there in Trabzon?" has no single correct number. A hammam in the archive record, a hammam still standing and a hammam still working as a hammam are three different counts. Uçar writes that eight of the 12 hammams built after the conquest have survived (İmaret, Tophane, İskender Pasha, Sekiz Direkli, Alaca, Hacı Arif, Meydan and Askeriye). The article also counts separately the buildings still working as hammams in 2019: Sekiz Direkli, Fatih, İskender Pasha and Meydan.

How to read a historic Turkish bath: the changing room, warm room, hot room and furnace

A classic Turkish bath is made up of rooms that open onto one another, each hotter than the last. Uçar lists the main sections of Anatolian Turkish baths as the changing room (soyunmalık), the passage (aralık), the warm room (ılıklık) and the hot room (sıcaklık). On the technical side there is a water tank, a furnace (külhan) and a stoke-hole (cehennemlik). The külhan is where the fire that heats the water and the floor burns, and it is often out of sight from outside.

The TDV Encyclopaedia of Islam entry on Hamam points to two features that set the Turkish bath apart. The first is how you wash: "In Turkish baths, which have no pool apart from thermal spas and hot springs, one washes by pouring water at the basin (kurna)." The second is where you sweat. Rather than a separate closed room, a raised platform called the "belly stone" (göbek taşı) in the middle of each heated section was preferred. According to the entry, the Arabs rarely built double hammams, while the Turks built "double hammams, made up of two adjoining buildings, one for men and one for women."

The roots of this architecture reach back to Rome. The TDV entry explains that in Roman baths, hot air was circulated in the hollow space under the floor, called the hypocaust. Uçar likewise writes that the greatest similarity between Roman baths and Islamic and Turkish hammams lies in the heating system. In other words, the sequence from changing room to hot room is an Anatolian form of heating engineering that goes back to antiquity. Uçar also stresses that the design foundation of the Turkish bath rests on the Turks' own architectural traditions: it drew on ancient cultures but developed into a distinct building type, the "Turkish Bath".

Even the word hammam says something about the plan. Citing Eyice, Uçar notes that the word comes from the Arabic root "hamm" (to heat) and means "a place that heats". Heating sits at the centre of the architecture. Hammams were often built as doubles because one furnace heating two sections spreads the warmth more evenly.

The hot room decides the plan. In Eyice's classification, the most common type is the hot room with a cross-shaped four-iwan layout and corner cells: a belly stone in the centre, iwans (vaulted alcoves) on four sides and washing cells (halvet) in the corners. In Uçar's assessment, Trabzon's hammams belong to this group. Only the Sekiz Direkli Hammam differs, with eight columns carrying the hot room. Uçar adds that decoration in Trabzon hammams is sparse, with the marble work concentrated on the belly stone, basins and basin legs, and that wooden posts are used in the changing rooms.

What place did hammams hold in Trabzon's social and economic life?

Hammams were not only places to wash; they were part of the city's institutions and economy. Uçar reports from the kadi registers of 1643-1656 that hammams held an important place in Trabzon as sources of income for charitable foundations (vakıf). She also mentions a 1592 document on the hammams of the Hatuniye Imaret Foundation and the 1583 land survey register. In practice this means that running a hammam was a steady income that paid for the costs of a charitable institution. The BlackSea section states that the Hatuniye complex was built in 1514 in the name of Selim the Grim's mother, and that the İmaret Hammam stood inside this complex.

The place of the hammam in city life also has to do with washing facilities at home. According to the BlackSea section, a bathroom at home was seen in Trabzon only in upper-class mansions until the 1930s. There were small "gusülhane" (ablution rooms) used for religious reasons, and basins for children, but the usual way to wash was to go to the public hammam. Although the city is rich in water sources, running water reached homes only in the Republican period. The same source writes that even though homes now have bathrooms, the culture of the public hammam continues, if not as strongly as before. Uçar also notes that in historic Turkish cities hammams were important social buildings, and that they usually operated separately for women and men.

This context reminds us that the buildings we now see as tourist sights were once at the centre of daily life. A neighbourhood hammam was thought of together with the mosque, caravanserai and market nearby. The locations described for the hammams reflect this: the İskender Pasha Hammam stands near the Çarşı Mosque and the Taş Han, and the Meydan Hammam lies south of the Sulu Han.

Which hammams no longer stand, or no longer work as hammams?

Most of Trabzon's historic hammams do not work as hammams today, and some are known by name only. The BlackSea section lists a few of them, and again the sources give different periods.

• Inner Castle Palace Hammam (İçkale Saray Hamamı): It adjoins the castle walls and is thought to be a remnant from the Komnenos period. Only small parts stand, and its architectural style differs from the classic Ottoman hammam. The traveller Mehmed Aşıkî (born 1555/56) mentions it under the name Kulle Hamamı.
• Double (Gâvur) Hammam (Çifte Hamam): It appears in Ottoman records of the 1520s. Some travellers and experts (Ritter, Surmelian) suggest that the building may have been built as a church, and Evliya Çelebi also writes that it was of Christian origin. Because it has an underground lower floor, it caught the attention of Minas Bıjışkyan.
• İmaret Hammam: It lies within the Hatuniye complex (1514). At the time the BlackSea section was written, its remaining walls were used as a timber store.
• Tophane Hammam: Said to have been built in 1494; it was covered with cement in 1978 and used as a depot.
• Alaca and Hacı Arif hammams: According to the BlackSea section, the Alaca Hammam was built in the 18th century and the Hacı Arif Hammam in the first half of the 19th century.

This list shows once more why "how many historic hammams are there in Trabzon?" is not a simple question. One building still stands but is no longer a hammam, another lives only in the records, and a third appears under two different names in two different sources.

Why is it called the Sekiz Direkli Hammam, and when was it built?

The Sekiz Direkli Hammam stands in the Pazarkapı neighbourhood of Ortahisar, and its name, "Eight Columns", matches the eight-column arrangement that carries its hot room. The date of construction is disputed. In its entry on the Sekiz Direkli Hammam, the Türkiye Culture Portal writes that, "because of its architectural features, the building is dated to the 18th century". It adds that the hammam consists of a changing room, a cool room and a hot room, and that its repair was carried out by Trabzon Municipality.

Uçar is more cautious. She writes that it is not known for certain who built the hammam or when, that it is said to have been built by the city's Muslim residents in the Byzantine period, but that its surviving architectural features are shared with 18th-century hammams and may have been acquired in that century. The article also reports the view, based on Yüksel (2000), that calls the building "the oldest Turkish Hammam in Trabzon", with a top covering likened to a nomad's tent. The BlackSea section puts two claims side by side: according to some, it was built by the Seljuks in the 11th century; it is also suggested that it was built in the 18th century and then altered so much that its age cannot be read from the building, with only the plan being original. The same section records that Trabzon Municipality repaired it in 1989.

Architecturally, the hammam is plain and spacious. According to Uçar, it uses rubble stone, cut stone and, inside, white marble. It has a large dome resting on eight columns, a square hot room and four small halvet cells in the corners of the hot room. Because the changing room was wooden, it collapsed later and was rebuilt. The Trabzon Regional Board for the Conservation of Cultural Property registered the hammam as a monumental building by a decision of 14 December 1974.

When was the İskender Pasha Hammam built, and by whom?

The historic İskender Pasha Hammam is a double hammam built by İskender Pasha, the governor of Trabzon, and sources give its year as 1531 or 1538. According to Uçar, it was built in 1531, during İskender Pasha's governorship of Trabzon (1521-1531), and the hammam is mentioned in the pasha's endowment deed dated 937 in the Islamic calendar (1531 CE). The BlackSea section gives 1538. Both place the building in the early 16th century.

Evliya Çelebi describes this hammam in the Seyahatname as "double and very airy" (according to the edition Uçar quotes). Architecturally, the building has a rectangular plan running east to west: the west half is the men's section and the east half the women's. Uçar writes that the men's section was entered from Paşa Hamam Street to the north, and the women's section from the back, on the south façade. The men's section has a square changing room, a small warm room and a rectangular hot room lit by two small light domes, while the women's changing room is covered by a lantern. Uçar adds that rectangular windows were used on the façade, a feature applied in this building among Trabzon hammams.

The repair history is the same in both sources: the building was repaired in 1889, 1938 and 1981, and had a thorough repair again in 2008. Uçar adds that the hammam is owned by the General Directorate of Foundations (Vakıflar Genel Müdürlüğü) and was registered as a cultural asset requiring protection in 1985.

A small but important note: the Pasha Hammam ritual on our menu does not take its name from this building; it is a separate service. In this article, "İskender Pasha Hammam" means the historic building.

When was the Meydan Hammam built, and what is a double hammam?

The Meydan Hammam is a double hammam in the Kemerkaya neighbourhood, south of the Sulu Han, and sources give at least three different accounts of when it was built. A double hammam (çifte hamam) is made up of two adjoining, independent hammams, one for men and one for women. By its own description, the Meydan Hammam also consists of "two independent hammams".

According to Uçar, building was begun by Hacı İbrahim of the Kazazzade family and finished in the 19th century by Hüseyin Kazazoğlu, the mayor of the time (drawing on Horuloğlu 1983 and Karpuz 1989). The BlackSea section writes that it was built at the end of the century by the mayor Kazazzade Hüseyin (1878-1938). The business's own website says it was built by the Ottomans in the 17th century. A business's own promotional text is not a historical source; we include it here only as one of the three accounts a reader will meet.

One more detail muddies the picture. In the 19th-century list that Uçar quotes from Feruhan, a hammam called "Meydan" is counted inside the Inner Castle, and the Meydan, Paşa and Çifte hammams are described as having two sections, for men and women. The BlackSea section dates Feruhan's list to 1847. How the Meydan on that list relates to the building said to have been completed at the end of the 19th century is not explained in the sources we have, so we do not choose between them.

On the architecture, the sources agree. According to Uçar, the hot room follows the four-iwan, corner-cell plan, with an octagonal belly stone at the centre and marble paving on the floor and sides. The women's section runs north to south. The men's section lies to the east, has two floors, and its wooden changing area is covered by an octagonal roof carried on eight wooden posts. The building is of cut stone, and the furnace and water tank lie to the west, hidden from the outside by the surrounding shops. The Meydan Hammam is also registered by the 1985 decision and owned by the General Directorate of Foundations.

Do Trabzon's hammams resemble the other historic hammams of the Black Sea?

Yes. Trabzon's hammams share plan and material features with the other historic hammams of the eastern Black Sea. Uçar compares the Trabzon buildings with the Artvin Central Market Hammam (18th century), the Topal Mehmet Pasha (Kurşunlu) Hammam in Şebinkarahisar (1651) and the Gümüşhane Kavaklık Hammam (17th-18th century). All four follow the classic Ottoman four-iwan, corner-cell plan, use cut and rubble stone, favour vaults for the covering, and give little space to decoration because of the high heat and humidity. The details specific to Trabzon are the use of wooden posts in the changing room, the preference for pendentives in the transition to the dome (in the Fatih, Meydan and İskender Pasha hammams) and the squinches at the corners of the Sekiz Direkli.

In conclusion, Uçar writes that Trabzon's hammams continue the classic Ottoman idea of the hammam but have architectural features of their own. For the reader, the meaning is simple: when you step through the door of a historic hammam in Trabzon, you meet the section order of the classic Turkish bath, and you see the difference in plain stone, timber and marble work and in the building tradition of the region.

Which period do the Fatih (Hacı Kasım) and Hasanpaşa hammams date from?

Most sources count the Fatih Hammam as built after the conquest (Uçar's summary says otherwise), while the Hasanpaşa Hammam is a military bath built in the second half of the 19th century. According to Uçar, the Fatih Hammam (also known as the Hacı Kasım Hammam) is in the Cumhuriyet neighbourhood, west of the Hacı Kasım Mosque. Because the Fatih Mosque has no inscription, the exact year of construction is unknown; it is understood to have been built after the conquest of Trabzon. Most of the building has collapsed, but the hot room survives: two domed cells side by side and two rectangular rooms attached to them. The hammam underwent a major restoration in 2008 and was registered as a cultural asset requiring protection in 1985.

The Hasanpaşa Hammam has a different story. According to news reports based on a statement by Ortahisar Municipality (Bengü Türk, 8 September 2023; NTV Haber), construction started in 1880 and was completed in 1883. The municipality restored the building and opened it to visitors on 7 September 2023 with a military museum concept. The mayor says the restoration shows how the hammam worked: "How the fire burned in the hammam, how the lighting was provided, how the water was heated and distributed through the hammam, the working techniques of hammams of the old days have all been reflected." Elements such as the belly stone, halvet room, bellows, basin, pestemal and kese mitt are also displayed. For anyone who wants to see how a hammam works, it complements what this article describes. For current visiting conditions, you need to contact Ortahisar Municipality.

Why do sources give different dates?

Sources give different dates because most hammams have no inscription (kitabe) showing the year of construction, or it has not survived, so the date has to be worked out from other documents. Three methods stand out. The first is endowment deeds and register entries: the 1531 date of the İskender Pasha Hammam rests on the hammam being mentioned in the pasha's endowment deed. The second is the "it appears to have been built after the conquest" kind of inference for buildings without an inscription; the Fatih Hammam is like this. The third is dating by architectural features: the Culture Portal's 18th century for the Sekiz Direkli follows this method. The method weakens when a building has been repaired and altered over the centuries, which is why the BlackSea section says it is hard to read an age from the architecture.

The table below shows what the sources say for the buildings named in this guide. No row declares one date "correct".

A practical rule follows for the reader: when you read a hammam's date, look for the name of the source beside it, and trust "according to the source" more than the word "certain". It is normal for even two academic sources to give different years for the same building.

Were Trabzon's historic hammams separate for women and men?

Yes. Traditional double hammams have two separate sections, one for women and one for men, and this arrangement can be seen in Trabzon's historic hammams too. The İskender Pasha Hammam is planned with the men's section in the west and the women's in the east. In the Meydan Hammam the women's section runs north to south, and the men's section lies to the east on two floors. According to Uçar, in the list quoted from Feruhan, the Meydan, Paşa and Çifte hammams are described as having "two sections, for men and women". Single-section hammams were reserved for men until noon and for women in the afternoon.

Uçar also notes as a general rule that in the double hammams of large cities, the entrance to the men's section opened onto the main street, while the women's entrance, for privacy, opened onto a back street or a road with little traffic. The women's entrance at the back of the İskender Pasha Hammam fits this pattern. All of this concerns the historic plan of the buildings; for how a place is used today, you need to check its own announcements. For another look at spaces set aside for women, see our guide to the women-only hammam and massage floor.

Etiquette and preparation for a hammam visit: what to keep in mind

A hammam visit is less a service to be consumed quickly than a ritual, and a few general rules hold in every hammam. This section describes the tradition, not any particular hammam.

• Order: The sections of a hammam are arranged so that the heat rises step by step (changing room, warm room, hot room). Following this architectural order gives the body time to get used to the heat. It is traditional to rest for a short while on the belly stone in the hot room and to pour warm water over yourself at the basin. For the detailed order, see our article on what to bring to a Turkish bath.
• What to wear: A pestemal (a thin cotton wrap) is used in hammams; what you wear under it is a personal choice. It is a good idea to ask before you go in whether items such as slippers and a towel are provided. How the scrub and foam massage work is explained in our article on the scrub and foam massage.
• Time: Do not rush a hammam. Find out the appointment or entry time and the last admission rule in advance; opening arrangements differ everywhere.
• Water and rest: Keep water with you, and if you do not feel well in the hot room, move at once to a cooler section and rest. Walk slowly on wet marble floors.
• Respect and privacy: The entrances to the women's and men's sections are separate, so go into the right one. Always ask the attendant before you take a photograph; a hammam is a shared and private space.
• Health: Harvard Health advises people with uncontrolled high blood pressure or heart disease to talk to their doctor before using hot environments such as a sauna. The same caution applies in a hammam. If you are pregnant or have any health condition, talk to your doctor. This is a general note of caution, not medical advice.

If you mix up hammam words (belly stone, natır, kurna, halvet, külhan), our Turkish bath glossary gives short definitions.

How to fit hammam culture into a trip to Trabzon

The easiest way to include the historic hammams in a trip is to plan them on the same day as the other stops in the city centre, but you must confirm opening hours in advance. The İskender Pasha Hammam is in the Çarşı neighbourhood, west of the Taş Han; the Meydan Hammam is in the Kemerkaya neighbourhood, south of the Sulu Han; and the Sekiz Direkli Hammam is in the Pazarkapı neighbourhood. We give this information as the historic position of the buildings, not as addresses; for a visiting address, use an official and up-to-date source.

A hammam visit can take a long time, so it is usually more comfortable to leave it until after the stops that need a lot of walking. What else you can do in the city is covered in our article on things to do in Trabzon. A note for visitors from abroad: the number of foreign visitors to Trabzon is rising. According to Trabzon Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism data reported by Anadolu Agency, 808,009 foreign visitors came to the city in 2025 (2024: 711,626). Hammam culture is one of the subjects they ask about most often.

Looking for a Turkish bath in Boztepe? Beatus Spa Trabzon

This article has described historic buildings. For readers looking for a hammam service, here is separate information: the Beatus Spa location with a Turkish bath in Trabzon is in the Boztepe area of Ortahisar district, inside Radisson Blu Hotel Trabzon. It is not a historic building; it is a spa within a hotel. The spa has two floors. On the upper floor, the tiled Turkish bath, the steam room, the massage rooms and the women's changing rooms are reserved for women guests all day. The pool, sauna, steam room and fitness area on the lower floor are shared by women and men, and male guests use the lower-floor areas. You do not need to stay at the hotel.

For the details of the arrangement, see the Trabzon hammam with pool guide and the women-only hammam and massage floor guide. To book, call or message the Trabzon location on WhatsApp from the call card on this page; there is no online booking engine.