Sunset on Hamam Domes, Istanbul

Domes, Trees & Gentle Light

Photographers love the long, low, pink-and-gold light of winter dawns and sunsets, and here you see why.

The delicate filigree of the leafless winter trees contrasts wonderfully with the solid geometrical shapes of the domes topped by their stone lanterns.

The domes are those of the Baths of Sultana Roxelana (Haseki Hürrem Hamami), built in 1556 to designs by Mimar Sinan, the Ottoman Empire's greatest architect. The baths stand just across the plaza from Ayasofya (Hagia Sofia), which was a mosque at that time, and served the worshippers of the mosque.

Roxelana (Hürrem Sultan), thought by many to have been a French noblewoman captured at sea and sold into slavery, was the beloved wife of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent.

This was a twin baths (çifte hamam), with separate but equal-sized chambers for men and for women.

Today the hamam has been converted into a government carpet shop, which means that the only way you can take a bath there is by paying too much for a carpet. You may get cleaned out, but you can't get clean.

You can, however, visit both sides of the baths, something impossible for all but hermaphrodites while they were still operating as baths.

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