Haseki Hürrem Hammam

The Haseki Hurrem Sultan Hammam was built in 1556 by Mimar Sinan on commission from Hurrem, the influential chief consort of Suleyman the Magnificent. Hurrem, known in Europe as Roxelana, rose from a Ruthenian slave to the first officially recognised wife of a sultan, an unprecedented ascent in Ottoman history. The bath sits exactly between Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque and replaced a Byzantine bathhouse on the site. Sinan dropped the usual side-by-side layout of men's and women's sections in favour of a mirror-symmetrical double hammam at opposite ends of the building, each 75 metres long with identical marble fittings. After years as a carpet store it reopened as a luxury hammam in 2011, the price is steep but the architecture preserved in its purity.