Istanbul's Zeyrek Çinili Hamam Opens After 13-Year Restoration

(MENAFN- USA Art News) Istanbul's Zeyrek Çinili Hamam, a 16th-century double hammam, has reopened to the public following a 13-year restoration. The project by Marmara Group, a Turkish hospitality company, integrates heritage preservation, archaeological research, and contemporary art within the historic structure.

The hammam, located in the Zeyrek district on the Golden Horn peninsula, is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site. Commissioned in the 1530s by Ottoman grand admiral Barbaros Hayreddin Pasha and designed by architect Mimar Sinan, the 32,000-square-foot bath was notable for its original tile program. It is believed that more than 10,000 blue-and-white İznik tiles, featuring 37 unique patterns, once adorned its interiors, giving the building its name, çinili, or“tiled.”

Over centuries, the building changed hands and fell into disuse as domestic plumbing became widespread in the 19th century. Around 1874, antiquities dealer Ludovic Lupti acquired many of its tiles and sold them in Paris. These dispersed tiles are now held by major institutions including the Louvre, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, and the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, as well as private collections.

Architectural conservation and restoration firm KA-BA Architecture, led by Cengiz Kabaoğlu, guided the meticulous restoration. They avoided reproducing missing İznik tiles, instead preserving existing traces like worn marble, fragments, and scars. The extensive work involved archaeological excavation and archival research, leading to the recovery of nearly 3,000 pieces of 16th-century İznik tile from the site.

Koza Güreli, who spearheaded the project for Marmara Group, said the hammam was not initially conceived as an art venue.“We have residences, hotels, extended stays and other hospitality projects, and we were looking to expand our knowledge in hospitality,” Güreli told Observer. Her mother initially conceived the idea, and Güreli assumed leadership after her mother's retirement. Her father founded Contemporary Istanbul, a key art fair in Turkey, and is a long-time art collector. Güreli grew up immersed in the art world and began collecting herself at age 26.

A selection of recovered artifacts is now displayed in a museum integrated into the complex, with exhibition design by German studio ATELIER BRÜCKNER. This display features items spanning 1,500 years, from the 5th Century through the Ottoman period into the 20th century, alongside objects illustrating the social history of hammam culture. The exhibition highlights items like ornate wooden bath sandals, or nalın, whose varying heights once signified social class.

The hammam's contemporary art program launched with its public opening in 2023. The inaugural exhibition,“Healing Ruins,” was curated by artistic director Anlam de Coster and featured 22 artists across the women's and men's sections of the bath and its newly uncovered Byzantine cisterns. This initial show allowed the public to experience the building for free before its commercial opening as a functioning bath, Güreli noted.

The venue now hosts two exhibitions annually, despite constraints such as walls that cannot be treated as neutral hanging surfaces, and the effects of heat and humidity on materials. Visitors encounter different works depending on the bathing section they use. Artists are generally selected in collaboration with de Coster, who approaches the hammam as a temenos, a protected sacred space.

“The starting point for me is always the hammam itself,” de Coster told Observer.“I am interested in artists whose practices can enter into a genuine conversation with the memory, physical character and symbolic charge of the building, rather than simply placing contemporary art within a historic setting.”

Güreli emphasized the family's value for heritage buildings, noting that Marmara Group also recently renovated Esma Sultan Palace on the Bosphorus, now an event space. She recalled the hammam's historic role as a vital communal and social space, particularly for women, where they could gather independently.“Today, hammams are mostly tourist spaces, but at the time, they fostered a sense of belonging within the community. It is important to me to continue that tradition of people getting together,” Güreli explained.

The exhibition“Atlas of Encounters” by artist Alex Červený is currently on view at Zeyrek Çinili Hamam, located at Zeyrek, İtfaiye Cd. No:44, 34083, Istanbul, through January 31, 2027.

We previously reported:

The 21st edition of Contemporary Istanbul will bring together more than 70 galleries from 24 countries, with 17 new exhibitors joining.

Source: Observer Arts

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