Publications & Papers
TOPHANE KILIÇ ALİ PAŞA PUBLIC BATH
Kılıç Ali Pasha was born in early sixteenth century to non- Muslim parents, probably of Italian origin, and he was taken as hostage on his way to Naples. The title "Uluch" is given to pirates of non-Arabic origin, hence his title "Uluch/ Kilich." In 1580, during his term as admiral in chief in the Ottoman Empire, Ali Reis commissioned Mimar Sinan (Sinan the Architect) for building the Kılıç Ali Pasha kulliye (Ottoman social complex), which was made up of a mosque, mausoleum, madrasa, bath, infants' school, public fountain and a cemetery.
The location of the kulliye was a deliberate choice. It was an indicator of the policy to oversee the Levantine-dominated Galata area with Müslim settlement and it was built following the Azapkapı Sokollo Mehmed Pasha Mosque.
The Kılıç Ali Pasha bath was opened three years after the building of the mosque, serving men between 10.30am, women from 11am until the evening and men again from the evening prayer until midnight.
The bath has a change room known as the "window wall" that has a dome with a 14.10 m diameter, built unusually as a masonry structure, making up half of the entire bath. There is a hexagonal lantern on the dome and a dodecagonal fountain right in the middle of the structure.
Biographies mention a Çifte Hamam (Double Bath) in the Fener neighborhood on the Golden Horn. Entirely eradicated, there is no trace left of this bath save the information in historical documents.