Eski Kaplıca

Eski Kaplıca ("Old Hot Spring") is a thermal bath in Çekirge, within the Kükürtlü neighbourhood, built in the 14th century as a double bath with separate sections for men and women. It is also popularly known as the Armutlu Bath, and the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam presents it as the oldest and most important example among Bursa's thermal baths. It takes its name from the remains of a Byzantine-era bath that once stood on the same spot. Çekirge's hot springs were known long before the Ottomans; in the Byzantine period a settlement called Pythia grew up around the springs. No document gives the exact date of construction, but archival records indicate that the bath was built in the reign of Murad I, and 1371 is taken as the earliest possible date. The endowment deed of the Hüdavendigar Complex, dated July 1385, shows that the bath was part of the complex Murad I founded in Çekirge. According to Semavi Eyice's TDV entry, the complex was also known as the Kaplıca İmareti because it was built where the thermal waters rise. Over time the settlement of Çekirge itself took shape around this complex and the baths nearby. Relying on the ancient column capitals in the hot room, some researchers believe the building was rebuilt on the foundations of a 5th or 6th century Byzantine bath, largely preserving the old plan. In this view, the outer walls were largely rebuilt in the reign of Murad I and the spaces were roofed with domes. Travellers, too, mostly described the building either as a Byzantine work or as a bath whose dome was added under Murad I. Its architect is not known. In the reign of Bayezid II a domed changing hall (camekan), a basement and shops around the building were added. The 1511 inscription belonging to this addition now stands at the entrance of the women's section. As a result, the spaces from the time of Murad I and the units from the time of Bayezid II show two different architectural approaches side by side in one building. The bath was repaired many times in later centuries; the sources list repairs in 1535, 1612, 1629, 1681 and 1882, and the inventory record on the Kültür Portalı adds 1988. According to the same record, part of the original lead roofing was replaced with tiles in 1612. Architecture The building is an example of the bath type with a star-shaped hot room, in which vaulted bathing niches are arranged around a polygonal central platform. This plan is thought to have been shaped under the influence of the ancient thermal baths of Anatolia. Stone and brick are used together in the walls. The dome of the warm room rests on eight columns linked by round arches. The most striking part is the hot room: at its centre is a pool seven metres in diameter, and the eight columns around it carry the dome on arches. The capitals of these columns are spolia taken from the Byzantine period. According to TDV, the four corners of the octagonal hot room are extended with semicircular niches. Here hot water flows from a lion-mouthed basin into a small trough first and from there down in steps into the pool. The changing hall built under Bayezid II is covered by two domes, each more than ten metres in diameter. Around it there were once rooms and the shops of a cook, a sherbet maker and a bath-towel seller, and below it a stable. The women's section is a separate rectangular building adjoining the warm room. From outside, the tile-covered domes of the hot section are easy to tell apart from the lead-covered domes of the cold section. Visiting The bath still serves its original purpose; it is run by a hotel business, and men and women use separate sections. Because the interior operates as a bath, entry conditions and prices depend on the operator's rules, so ask the operator directly for current information. You can, however, easily see the domes, the stone and brick walls and the entrance of the women's section from around the building. On the south side of the bath stands the Armutlu Fountain, counted among the oldest fountains in Bursa, so do not miss it either. According to the Kültür Portalı inventory, the institution responsible for the building is the General Directorate of Foundations. Surroundings and getting there Çekirge was linked to the city centre by the road built by Ahmet Vefik Pasha, governor of Bursa between 1879 and 1882, and today it is a district reached from the centre by public transport. Check current routes and timetables on the transport pages of Bursa Metropolitan Municipality. The Hüdavendigar Complex lies a few hundred metres west of the bath, and the Karagöz Museum a few hundred metres east of it, on Çekirge Caddesi. It is easy to combine these three places in a single half-day walk.