Publication Date
AH 5th century / AD 11th century
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Record ID
monument;ISL;dz;Mon01;3;ar
Library Location
Down Qaisaria, the main street of the old city, towards Bab Sidi Boumediene, a small entrance to the left, opposite the Sidi Mas Oufa Mosque, leading to Alley of Dyers, Algeria
Date
AH 5th century / AD 11th century
Notes
The name Hammam Al-Sabagheen, also known as Hammam Sidi Belhassan, goes back to the alley in which it is located. Sidi Ahmed Belhassan Al-Ghamri was a pious man, and he lived in a seclusion adjacent to the Grand Mosque, where he would stay up at night reciting the Holy Qur’an. This pious man frequently visited the dyers' bath, and the place where he loved to sit remained well-known until recently. Sidi Ahmed Al-Wali became the protector of these places. Legend says that it appeared in the form of a ring of gold coins that transformed into a snake protecting the place. The building plan is difficult to distinguish from the outside, because it is integrated into the urban fabric of the city. The only clear element of the façade remains the entrance door to the bathroom, which has a colonial character. The bathroom spaces - the entrance (the shed), the reception hall, the middle hall, the hot hall, the private room, and the toilets - are still in place, and they are distributed within an almost square-shaped plan. The passage has now become direct from the reception hall to the hot hall, whereas previously it was through a small, middle hall, which is more like a shed or an internal corridor, at the expense of a suitable temperature gradient. The shed is equipped with two stone benches. The reception room, where one undresses and where one rests when leaving the hot hall, has not undergone significant modifications. Twelve massive stone columns surround a square in the middle, surrounded by four high porticoes. Each portico is covered by a semi-cylindrical vault, while the central square is covered by a dome resting on an octagonal neck mounted on the central arches of the porticoes and on the four arches that extend beyond the corners of the square. The hot hall is rectangular in shape, and is covered by a semi-cylindrical vault. On each side of the rectangle, there are two arches resting on a central column, defining two spaces that trap heat. The first forms a transitional space between the warm hall and the hot hall, and the other is the hottest section. The narrowness of the alley does not allow sufficient distance to appreciate the importance of the volumetricity of the building dominated by the reception dome. This bathroom was originally devoid of decoration. The decorations that were added to it later do not diminish the strength and magnitude that we observe in the external section of the bathroom designated for reception and rest, the center of which was decorated with a water fountain and its fountain, and topped with a central dome and cupolas in the corners. In general, it seems that this building has not been subjected to significant renovations, whether with regard to its structure or with regard to its original function.
Sample Text
Ali Lafer “Hammam of the Dyers” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;dz;Mon01;3;ar
