„TURKISH BATHS“ IN SERBIA–THE INFLUENCE OF TRANSFORMATIONS IN FORM AND FUNCTION ON THEIR FUTURE PRESERVATION (original) (raw)
Proceedings of The 3rd International Conference “The Importance of Place”, 21.-24. October 2015. in Sarajevo (Editor: Maja Roso Popovac), CICOPBH, Sarajevo, Vol. 3 No. 1, 2015, ISSN 2232-965X, pp. 21-32. Serbia has a large number of diverse cultural monuments from different epochs and the ones belonging to Islamic architecture have a very significant place among them. Turkish bath - hammam was a typical architectural form of every town of the Ottoman Empire and Serbian territory was no exception. They belong to the group of public buildings strongly influenced by religion and culture itself. Their value is not only functional, but also aesthetic, and very often they have characteristics of monumental architecture. This paper gives an overview of all preserved hammam buildings in Serbia, with an assessment of their current state, and pointing to transformations in function and form during the time. They were all built between XV and XVIII century, and survived upon present days but with different state of preservation. Although some of them still serve their original purpose, a number of Turkish baths were brought to the ultimate degree of degradation by neglection or misuse. Their secure future depends on so many factors and keeping of their original use is one of the crucial factors for providing this.