Hammams
Hammam (Turkish: hamam) is a city bath that first appeared in the Middle East. The bathing in the hammam was for maintaining personal hygiene, as part of a ritual, but also for pleasure. The Hammams were an important part of the Turkish culture and served as a place for socialization.
Among the buildings of profane architecture in Skopje, hammams (city baths) held a special place, both in terms of their number and monumentality. At a point in the past, Skopje had 12 single and 3 double (chifte) hammams. The numerous public hammams, in addition to the house hammams, which outnumbered the public ones, speak of the importance and significance that the Ottomans gave to this type of buildings. Most of the hammams in Skopje were built in the XV and XVI century. The Hammams were celebrations of prominent people in the country (pashas, viziers, beys, etc.). They were considered wakf property and were reported to have maintained other buildings built by their founders.
The single hammams were used for bathing only men or only women. Some single hammams served both sexes, but on certain days of the week or at certain time of the day. In the larger settlements, double (chifte) hammams were built, which served both sexes at the same time. The hammams had two separate entrances, usually placed on the opposite sides of the building. The interior entrances were narrow and small, wide enough for only one person to enter to avoid unnecessary cooling of the interior. Beautiful marble slabs paved all of the rooms in the hammam. The many domes that covered the hammams and the small openings through which the light entered gave it a special beauty. Some of the hammams had richly decorated interiors. The public hammams consisted of three parts: a wardrobe, a slightly warmed up space, and a warm room for bathing. In the middle of the wardrobe, the largest room in the hammam, there was a shadirvan, and partitions for changing clothes positioned beside the walls. There was a place for bathing utensils (towels, nalani - Turkish wooden slippers, soap, tas (pans for bathing, etc.) that were rented, but often visitors, mostly women, brought their own utensils. A rest area, intended for drinking tea or coffee after bathing was part of the hammams too. The second part of the hammam was a little warmer so that the visitors acclimatize when entering, or to rest and dry when leaving. In addition to this space, usually, there was a toilet and a barber shop, and in the women's hammams a depilation room. The third part of the hammam, the bathing space followed. It consisted of a wide central space, a central salon with a marble semicircular or eight-sided raised plateau of 45-50 cm in the middle. Each bath had a water tank and a fireplace.