Hammam

See also: Hammam (homonymy)

hammam (Arabic حمّام, hamam in Turkish). Called “bath Moor” (in reference to Arab Spain Al Andalusian) and Turkish bath by the Westerners, the hammam (" Water chaude" in Arabic) is a wet steam bath drawing its origins in the Roman thermal baths. In its current form, the hammam developed in the Ottoman Empire, the countries of the the Maghreb and in certain countries of the the Middle East like the Syria with the favor of the expansion of Islam. The hammam was indeed adapted to the precepts of the Islamic religion which recommends a regular hygiene meticulous person and ablutions in particular before the ritual prayers.

With the Morocco, the hammam is a social phenomenon and all the categories of the company attend this public place. It is often composed of three or four rooms, the first with room temperature, the second a little hotter, and so on. In the hammam the pores dilate under the effect of the vapor what allows an in-depth cleaning.

The hammam indicates also the establishment, the building in which this bath is organized. The architecture of the hammams vary according to the geographical surface and the times.

Today if they disappeared completely from certain countries like Egypt, with the development of the private bathrooms, the practice remains still long-lived in many places and tends to develop in Europe. The hammam of today is however more one place of relaxation that a " coffee of the femmes".

Related article

External bond

  • Raouf Seddik:" Hammams, vapors of the mémoire". http://www.saisonstunisiennes.com/articles/hammam/
  • Photographs of Hammams, Morocco in Iran
  • Photographs of the Last Public baths of Cairo, by Pascal Miller

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