Of many known hammams, including the twelve hammams listed by al-Nabulsi in 1700, only
five, three Mamluk and two Ottoman, have survived. The first buildings erected by the
Mamluks after the founding of the Great Mosque were two hammams: Hammam Izz
El-Din 1294-98 and Hammam al-Hajib 1301, which was completely destroyed in the flood
of 1955, to be followed shortly by a third Hammam Al-Nuri in 1333.
By 1301, five years after the reconstruction of the city begun, Tripoli had a single
Mosque, a single Madrassah, and two hammams, reflecting the concern of the early
inhabitants for functional secular buildings and for hygiene. The location of the three
baths was carefully considered. To suit the needs of the population; one was placed next
to the Great Mosque to serve the neighborhood around it, one in the center of the
commercial district next to the two khans to serve that densely populated area, and one on
the other side of the river to serve the small right bank settlement. This rational
allocation of baths was continued by Ottomans, who built their hammam al-Jadid, in the
area of the developing ottoman complex of the Mu'allaq Mosque.
A bath was both a complex structure and an expensive enterprise, so it is not surprising
to find that the two first baths Izz al-Din and al-Hajib, were both built by governors of
Tripoli ( Amir Izz al-Din Aybah and Amir Usindamur Kurji ).
The hammam al-Nuri was built by the mysterious Nur al-Din, who also built the madrassah
across the street and after whom the whole area of Suwayqat al-Nuri is named.
The Hammams of Tripoli follow the traditional layouts of the time. The two for which we
have floor plans and elevations show the common elements of a syrian Muslim bath organized
in the traditional linear arrangement of dressing room, cold room, warm room, and hot
room.
The Hammam al-Nuri is said to have been built sometime around 1333 by
the same unidentified Nur al-Din who built the Madrasah Nuriyyah. Unused since 1970, it
has begun to deteriorate. There is no founding
inscription.
A complex entrance that leads indirectly to the hammam both to provide privacy and to
avoid drafts; a cruciform changing room with raised mastabahs and an octagonal fountain, a
cold area, a warm area, and a hot
complex. The Hammam al-Nuri is dominated by two areas, the changing room and the hot room;
the cold and warm rooms simply link the other two.
The mashlah, or changing room, is gigantic compared with the others; it covers almost half
the space occupied by the bath, with iwans as deep as rooms and central dome raised by a
vertical cupola whose skylight constitutes a dome by itself.
All that can be said for certain is that the hammam as it now stands "with its large
mashlah with an octagonal fountain and a large hot room with numerous maqsurahs" was
already standing in 1700 when al-Nabulsi visited Tripoli and went to the Hammam al-Nuri
for a bath. How long it has been functioning before that is not known.
The first hammam built in Mamluk Tripoli, the Hammam `Izz al-Din has remained the
largest and most important hammam in the city. Constructed
For the practical purpose of saving and keeping heat `Izz al-Din is surrounded by
buildings and is hardly visible from the outside; as was also then customary, the facade
was kept plain. But simple as it is, the facade of the Hammam `Izz al-Din with its plain
arched entrance still has some interesting decorative vignettes taken from an earlier
building. The hammam has a single entrance that leads into a large square room with three
iwans, an octagonal pool in the center, and high raised dome with a skylight, all typical
and necessary elements of the room known as the mashlah, or changing room. There the
bather disrobes leaving his clothes in the drawers provided, and there also he rests after
bath on the couches along the walls of the iwan. This is the only area of the hammam that
is free of heat and steam, so whatever furniture is needed has to be kept there.
From the mashlah one proceeds to the actual bathing area. In all three areas -cold, warm,
and hot -steam and heat must be controlled, so every effort is made to avoid drafts; hence
there are no windows in a bath. Light is provided by small glass openings studding the
domes, which allow a minimum amount to filter through.
The hammam `Izz al-Din with its large changing room, single cold room, three warm rooms,
and three hot rooms (the sequence of four areas is clearly seen on the cross-section) is
typical for Syrian hammams of the period.
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