Abstract
The historical bath-houses are among the most significant structures of Urfa, which was named as Edessa City and was a state capital in the Roman era. It is known that there were open and closed bath-houses in the city in the year 497. During the Ottoman Period, various bath-houses serving the merchants travelling from other cities were built in the market area and on the route where excess water from the Pool of Abraham was flowing. Bey Kapısı (İbn Maktûl), Mencek, Karaburç, Devekovan (Danakvan), Kuloğlu, Ayaklı, Paşa, Hacı Bey, Muharrem and Meydan Bath-Houses that are mentioned in the city archives are extinct as of today. Sultan, Cıncıklı, Serçe, Arasta, Vezir, Velibey, Şaban, and Sultan Bath-Houses and Keçeciler Bath-House adjacent to it, which was used by felt makers, were all built during the Ottoman Period and made it to our day. Besides their function for washing and cleaning, bath-houses are social structures that serve various purposes such as having conversations and creating new friendships. The existence and cultural sustainability of bath-house structures are slowly disappearing with the changes in socio-economic structures and bathrooms becoming a part of the household. In this study where the traditional bath-houses of Urfa are reviewed, the traditional bath-houses of the city that are part of the historical and cultural heritage of the city that stand today are examined.
The architectural, functional and structural conditions of these bath-houses have been established with on-site reviews during the years 2007, 2013 and 2019 and also in accordance with the archival information. In this study, the documentation work is shared for the purposes of finding a place for the traditional Urfa bath-houses in the relevant literature in terms of providing publicity, and as a reference for architectural history and preservation projects with their architectural and structural characteristics since such structures are rarely found in the general resources of architectural history unlike Bursa, İstanbul or Edirne bath-houses.