Features of the hammam bath
Hamam is a traditional Turkish bath, which provides a completely different approach to water procedures. If you try to compare a hammam with a Russian bath, then the first one will notice the low temperature regime. Under conditions of 100% humidity, the temperature in the bathhouse does not rise above 50 °C . Because of this, the traditional Turkish bath is popular among those people who, due to health conditions, cannot tolerate high temperatures. High humidity also has a healing effect, without overloading the body.
As a result of creating similar conditions in a Turkish bath, water and temperature more carefully cleanse the skin, allowing the supports to fully open, and saturate it with moisture. A visit to the hammam not only improves the condition of the skin, but the body itself begins to work like a clock. There is no need to waste time and effort preparing and steaming the broom. Visiting a hammam bath without special accessories allows you to experience an incomparable feeling of bliss.
Integration of qurna and massage bed
If you want to bring your improvised hammam as close as possible to the standards of a Turkish bath, then you definitely cannot do without a kurna and a massage bed. Kurna is a special container into which aromatic solutions for massage are placed.
Nearby there is a bench or sunbed reinforced with a foundation. It must support at least 2 people. It will also be used for massage. It’s great if you have a broom made of bamboo sticks - the result will be amazing. Typically the following dimensions are recommended:
- height - 0.8 meters;
- length - 2.1 meters;
- width - 1.2 meters.
You can simply relax on the bench or give a massage to your neighbor. It is ideal if it is decorated with stone or tiles, and the body does not slip on it. But it doesn’t matter if slipping is still present: you can cover it with a special rug.
If you want more convincing, you can decorate the lounger with sea pebbles. It will turn out very authentic and attractive!
The origins of the ancient tradition
The first baths in Turkey began to be built at the beginning of the 17th century . If we turn to the chronicles, the Turks adopted their first experience in maintaining personal hygiene from the Arabs, and they received their secrets from the ancient Romans. Many historians provide quite convincing evidence in favor of the fact that the hammam became a unique national variation of the Roman baths.
Interest in hammam baths began to increase at the time when Islam came to eastern countries. The baths became so popular that sometimes ancient temples of other religions were even converted into them. It was necessary to carry out rather labor-intensive work to re-equip the premises in order to comply with the requirements of multi-stage procedures. They were changed to such an extent that the baths in every detail exactly corresponded to the Turkish style .
Continuing to get acquainted with the history of the hammam, you can find out that the first examples of these baths did not have significant advantages. But the years passed, and traditions of visiting Turkish baths gradually formed. A clear confirmation of this was the steam room, which turned into a place for massage. This was an innovation for the hammam - there was no such thing in the Roman baths. The necessary changes were made to the dry steam room, as a result of which it turned into a “sweating room”.
Today, in our country, you can find Turkish hammams, but, as happened with other types of baths, these were just clones, unable to provide the required effect. Therefore, if you want to feel the bliss of visiting a real hammam, then you should go to Istanbul or Bukhara , where classic hammams are still preserved. In these cities, long-term buildings still continue to function, which the owners monitor and do not even think about making changes to them.
Classic bath treatments
If you follow the traditions of building baths in the hammam style, then Turkish baths are made in the form of one large building, including many rooms and utility rooms. A large water boiler is used as the only heating device, which can be built into the wall or installed in the underground space.
One of the features of the hammam is the presence of special holes in the walls of the steam room at a height of approximately 1.5 m . Hot air enters the rooms through them. It is possible to maintain a special atmosphere in the steam room due to the supplied heated steam, which comes through pipes under the floor from the boiler. Therefore, to walk barefoot on the floor, you need to wear special shoes.
In the traditional version, the Turkish bath hammam is made in the shape of a human hand. There is no need to make changes to the dimensions of the bath rooms, since they are optimal and were thought out many centuries ago.
The central room is the steam room, around which there are five separate rooms that symbolize the number of fingers.
The entrance is the dressing room, which means hand . In this room the temperature does not rise above 35 °C. The dressing room is used to warm up and prepare the body for the sacred ritual. In a hammam, the steam room is always made in the form of a spacious room, in the center of which a marble lounger is installed - “chebek-tashi”. If you try to translate the name literally, you get a “belly bed.” Therefore, you need to rest on a lounger with your back up. There are legends that marble is a special material with unique properties, thanks to which, in conditions of high temperatures, it can expel minor ailments from the body, primarily from the intestinal tract.
From the steam room there is a path to five corridors, through which you can enter the remaining rooms, where each is maintained at a different temperature . As a person moves from one room to another, the body is subjected to a certain load, which allows it to cleanse the body of toxins. If you walk along the corridors, it may seem that every area has an electric heating system. However, this is a misconception. The unique effect is ensured by a properly positioned heating boiler.
There is an ancient prediction that if you go through all the rooms, you can completely rid your body of any ailments. At the end of the cycle, you need to go back to the steam room and enjoy a traditional massage performed by oriental masters. Those who are about to subject their body to this procedure for the first time initially compare it to torture. However, the first impression is deceptive, and after the procedure is completed, it becomes clear that the “victim” enjoyed such a beating. This can be explained by the truly healing effect of a real Turkish massage, which can relieve fatigue , clear the mind and invigorate the entire body.
After the massage, visitors will have to go one by one to pools with different temperatures and wash in them using a hard washcloth. This procedure is the result of borrowing from the Roman baths, which was left in its original form in the Turkish bath.
Main stages of construction
Equipment for the “filling” of a prepared room in a private house includes several operations.
Thermal insulation
Necessary for retaining heat inside a home hammam, so as not to heat adjacent rooms when it is not required (for example, in summer). Any modern technology is suitable.
Waterproofing
Almost one hundred percent humidity requires high-quality surface treatment with special compounds. A membrane is also used, which is attached to the surface and does not prevent the penetration of oxygen.
Heating system
Can be water or electric. Water heating in the house is more economical. It can be provided from hot water supply or an electric boiler located in the technical room. If the boiler is double-circuit, you need to install an individual circuit so as not to heat other rooms in the summer.
When choosing electric heating, which is much more expensive, pipes or mats are laid on the walls and under the sunbed, and not just on the floor.
Mosaic hamam
Hammam made of marble
electrical safety
Electrical wiring, sockets, switches must be made of moisture- and heat-resistant material, and the hammam at home is illuminated with lamps or LED strips.
Steam generator
The “heart” of the bathhouse. Creates the steam required for a hammam, controls its quantity, circulation, temperature, and humidity. Basic options are complemented by more expensive models with water pre-purification systems, automatic drainage, and containers for aromatic oils. It is installed in a technical room, and the steam enters the harar steam room through special pipes. Selected according to the dimensions of the room. Can be supplied with a control panel.
Ventilation
It can be in-line or forced. The pipes are installed in the place of the former window. The air outlet tube must be made of stainless steel, sealed, with a pipe for draining condensate. The most popular supply and exhaust device. In the room planned for the hammam, two ventilation openings located one opposite the other are designed. With a multi-level system, they are made at different heights.
Small hammam at home
Hammam made of tiles in the house
A modern take on the Turkish bath
The modern hammam offers far different procedures than those performed many centuries ago. Even resort towns fail to impress connoisseurs. The fact is that to create the required temperature conditions, steam generators are used for the bath, which are carefully hidden with the help of beautiful interior decoration.
This situation has arisen due to the fact that today in Arab countries few people show such a high interest in traditional ablution. Tourists who even agree to such a bathhouse do not have much choice. And in principle, modern hammams are mostly just small saunas. And all because it is incredibly difficult to build such a serious structure as a Turkish hammam on a tiny plot.
But recently there have been positive changes in our country. Increasingly, you can find hammams that are no longer the same ones that could previously be found in almost every major city. Now you can undergo the procedure of ablution in a Turkish-style bath in various sanatoriums and health centers .
Modern steam room in oriental style
A new approach to the construction of the Turkish hammam made it possible to create completely new baths. It now includes only three rooms. This solution was proposed by engineers in order to simplify construction work, as well as solve the issue of choosing a material. In ancient times, the hammam was built exclusively from stone. Now, as a modern alternative, they use standard brick with original interior decoration in an oriental style .
- The first room is the locker room (jamekian). It is intended not only for warming up the body, but also for taking a shower.
- Behind it comes the steam room. A place that, according to ritual, is used for taking hot baths. After a sufficient stay in the steam room, the effect of medium temperature and high humidity appears, the skin pores begin to open. At this point, you can begin the ablution procedure using a coarse goat's hair washcloth. The body is periodically rubbed and then rinsed with warm water in between.
- Next, visitors are invited to go to the third room (soguklyuk). In it, due to the lower temperature regime, you can cool the body and restore well-being after enduring stress.
And although modern Turkish baths are not very similar to traditional Turkish hammams, the premises still have a familiar configuration , and they are decorated with materials characteristic of the Turkish style. The inside of the bathhouse is decorated using only natural stone. Wood cannot be found in a real hammam.
A characteristic feature of Turkish baths is the oriental style in which the interior of the premises is decorated. Moreover, options are possible here - the design can be rough or clearly strict. Not least important is the lighting in the bathhouse. When choosing lamps, you need to pay attention to the architecture of the building, not forgetting about safety.
Everyone who has visited a hammam pays attention to the ceiling in the steam room. This is a real architectural masterpiece. According to construction rules, it must meet certain requirements:
- Have a dome shape;
- It must reach a height of at least 3 m.
But these requirements are not just a recommendation, but a practical necessity. Round walls do not allow condensation to fall onto the floor ; moisture immediately flows down into the drainage system.
Exotic hamam
Stone lounger
The main attribute of the steam room is harara. As a rule, the pedestal is placed in the center, its dimensions are 80-90x120x210 cm. The hot stone lounger is a multifunctional place:
- to receive a delightful foam treatment, which is only possible in the hammam;
- complete warming up of each joint or muscle;
- table for massage of a warm body.
The interior is complemented by stone benches, small in width, installed along the walls.
Personal hammam with lighting
Kurnas
This is the name of the special bowls that are always available in Harar. Traditionally they are made of stone, there are at least two of them, with cold and hot water for ablution. They are also filled with herbal infusions and massage liquids. Today, especially in a private house, only one kurna is allowed (it can even serve as a round-shaped sink) with two taps installed above it. The kurna is not connected to the sewerage system.
Decor
The classic material in the design of a hammam is marble (the bed is made of a monolithic slab). But this is a very expensive option, available to few, so it is often replaced with ceramics. Finishing with such tiles is much cheaper, but does not negatively affect the quality. Mosaic tiles made from small fragments are ideal for laying out oriental patterns. The hammam at home is equipped with a glass or wooden door.
Hammam with massage table
The construction of a bathhouse, even in a partially prepared room, is very expensive. It is worthwhile to first assess your financial capabilities, including drawing up a project, the services of specialists and the costs of subsequent maintenance.
Hammam in the bathroom
However, your own personal Turkish bath can not only improve your health, improve your mood, but also add status to the owner.
The benefits and harms of visiting the hammam
No matter what people say, the hammam, like other baths, can bring both benefit and harm to a person. Therefore, first, it would not hurt for everyone to learn about the beneficial and harmful effects of this bath.
How is hammam useful?
No matter what kind of bathhouse we are talking about, visiting it is sure to benefit the body. The Turkish hammam is no exception. Its healing effect is provided by moist, soft vapors that improve the functioning of the nervous system, sleep, prevent headaches , and have a calming effect. After visiting the hammam, a person’s vitality and metabolism increase. Positive changes occur in the skin, which becomes more youthful in appearance.
Contraindications
No matter how useful the hammam is, it is not for everyone. But unlike other baths, it has fewer contraindications, which is associated with soft, moist steam. Therefore, if, due to your health condition, you cannot enjoy water procedures in a Russian bath or Finnish sauna, where a fairly high temperature regime prevails, then you can easily afford to go to the hammam. If we talk in more detail about contraindications, then the following diseases can be considered as such:
- inflammatory processes of internal organs (at the active stage);
- oncology;
- cardiovascular diseases.
The above list of contraindications clearly shows that the restrictions for visiting the hammam are not so significant when compared with other types of baths. At the same time, visiting a Turkish bath brings significant benefits to the body, which is confirmed by numerous studies by specialists.
Video description
Finnish sauna: benefits and harms, contraindications.
When is it advisable to visit the sauna?
Construction of a sauna in the private sector will be justified if necessary:
- deoxidize the body, that is, remove toxins;
- get rid of stress and fatigue;
- increase performance;
- strengthen the immune system and vascular system;
- stabilize the function of the upper respiratory tract;
- eliminate overtraining (typical for athletes).
Regular stay in a Finnish sauna guarantees relief from chronic diseases of the respiratory system.
Sauna for relaxation and strengthening the immune system Source na-dache.pro
