Hammam al-Bakri

One of the bath houses in Damascus still doing its job. It is inside the walls, on the Bab Touma side of the Qaymariyya quarter, on Jaddat al-Nahwi. It sits off the visitor route; the custom is local and the hours are set around it.

Getting there

Come in through Bab Touma and walk west towards Qaymariyya; the bath is on Jaddat al-Nahwi. Arabic sources count it among the historic buildings of the quarter — with Bab Jayrun, the Mariamite Cathedral, the Sadiyya zawiya, the Hammam Nur al-Din and the Khayyatin and Bzouriyah souqs. The walk more or less lays itself out.

What to expect

The usual plan: cold room, warm room, hot room. Hours for women and men are separate and shift with the season, so asking beforehand is not optional. A towel and a wrap are usually handed out, though not always. The entry price, and the price of a scrub and a massage, are quoted at the door.

How many baths are left in Damascus

The number is the real information here. Arabic sources put about 60 working bath houses in the city at the end of the 19th century; in the 21st century the count has fallen below 20. Going into one that still works is less about seeing something disappear than about paying for what keeps the rest open.

Don’t miss

The construction date is not in the sources and we are not going to invent one. Look at the furnace side instead. Baths in Damascus drew their water from the channel alongside and their heat from the furnace behind, and in most of them the furnace door still opens onto the street. Before you find the entrance, go round the back lane and look for the soot.