ISA-BEG'S HAMMAM IN NOVI PAZAR

Isa-beg's hammam (Novi Pazar hammam) is a rare example of the dual type of urban hammam. It was built between the 1460s and the 1470s as an endowment – waqf of Isa-beg Ishaković, the founder of Novi Pazar. Isa-beg's hammam is situated in the central part of Novi Pazar, in the immediate vicinity of the Arap mosque and Ottoman fortress on the rights bank of the river Raška. Novi Pazar hammam has been declared a cultural monument of special importance and included in the list of buildings under the protection of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of the Republic of Serbia. At present, it is owned by the Islamic Community in Serbia and is part of waqf property.

The hammam was built so as to serve its purpose. Along the longitudinal center line of the hammam base two identical parts are separated, one of which was intended for male population and the other for women. Both included the usual system of rooms which are typical of dual-purpose hammams. Each room is covered with a dome. The hammam includes rooms for bathing, preparation for bathing and they are almost identical in both wings of the building. 

Like in any hammam, one first enters a room of a roughly square shape, which is called shadirvan/apodyterium. Walls of the shadirvan lean against the other walls of the hammam, which are built of stone and brick alternately. A fountain is also part of the hammam.

On the ground floor, people waited in line for bathing, typically over a coffee, while on the floor, i.e. gallery, they relaxed after bathing. It is likely that changing rooms/kafazes were also there. 

Shadirvans of the male and the female part of the Hammam are separated with a wall and a room resembling a two meter wide corridor. This room has a separate entrance on the north side, same as the female part of the shadirvan, while men enter from the east side. All entrances have semicircular stone arches.

From the shadirvan, bathers entered into kapaluk/tepidarium. This room served for last preparations for a bath. In winter, it was there where bathers prepared for bathing, and its basic purpose was relaxation after the bath. However, since the gallery in the shadirvan served the same purpose, the kapaluk always, in summer and in winter, served as a relaxing place for visitors who came for a steam bath, since temperature in the kapaluk was considerably higher than in the shadirvan because it does not lie on the hypocaust like the other rooms. 

Due to the function of the kapaluk, it was carefully arranged. There were benches and sofas in it.

In Isa-beg's hammam one first enters the lobby, the so-called mejdan. After the shadirvan, it is the largest room in the hammam. The mejdan in the male part is larger than that in the female part, it is covered with a dome and, similar to kapaluk, the wall and the dome are separated with two slightly broken arches. The female part of the mejdan also has a slightly smaller dome with openings for ventilation. Both domes lean against the basic walls by means of a pendentive. 

The mejdan has a dual function: it served as a waiting room if rooms for bathing were busy, and also for the massage. From the mejdan bathers entered the room for bathing, which included small chambers, the so-called halvats/caldarium, which were used for preparation for bathing.

Halvats are part of both male and female part of the hammam. All halvats have a square base and are covered with domes, some of which rest on the pendentives and others, by means of pyramidal bodies, on the basic walls.

In both parts of the Hammam, one halvat was connected with a room where the water was heated by means of a semi-circularly finished opening. They are the so-called “warm halvats”. 

Since halvats are also part of the bathing room, they had to have proper equipment. The equipment consisted of kurnas/bathtubs. Because one corner was unavailable due to the passage to the mejdan, there were three elevations, platforms and two stone fountains/kurnas in each halvat. 

All the three halvats in the male part and two in the female part were equipped in this way. However, one of the halvats in the female part is an exception: instead of kurnas and platforms it has a walled bathtub, about one meter high, with the base of 166 х 82 cm, which is entered over three stairs. 

These rooms were used by visitors for preparation, bathing and relaxation after the bath. Among the rooms for preparing warm water hazna is the most impressive. It spreads along the entire length of the southern facade of the Hammam. It is over 2 m wide and covered with semicircular vault. The floor of the hazna is at the same level as the floor of the Hammam. In the central part of the hazna there was a stand for the copper cauldron with warm water. The cauldron was placed above the ćulhan/stoker to keep the water warm all the time. Today, the spot in the Hammam where the stoker used to be is covered by the stone floor which was made subsequently. The stoker was positioned in such a way as to allow warm air to reach the Hammam rooms over the hypocaust, except under the shadirvan. Besides, the warm air from the hypocaust also circulated through special pipes built in the walls of the Hammam. The pipes were positioned so as to serve as a distinctive wall heating, and ended on the roof of the Hammam between the domes. 

Besides the hazna, the reservoir for warm water, a reservoir for cold water, the so-called terezija was built. It is of semicircular shape and placed next to the hazna. Terezija has a far smaller volume than hazna and is somewhat elevated.

The description of the rooms in Isa-beg's hammam itself also explains the exterior arrangement. Since there are no openings on the facades, their monotony was avoided by the alternate rows of brick and stone. There are remains of a cornice which extended along the entire circumference of the building, though not at the same level; it breaks, goes down or up to the second level, as necessary. The cornice was made of three rows of brick, cut aslant and corbeled. It was doubtlessly a significant contribution to the beauty of the composition of the facade. However, what gives a distinctive character to this building is the “fifth façade”, with the silhouette highlighted by the lively play of domes and octagonal apparently brick tambours. Each dome is covered with brick and has twelve hexagonal openings for light with protruding glass in the form of a calotte. The domes themselves had a ridge tile as cover, which is revealed by remnants of mortar and tiles, though it is also possible that the original cover was made of lead, due to the size and representative role of the Hammam. 

The Hammam played the role of public bathroom used by inhabitants of Novi Pazar, as well as by travelers who were passing through the city. Its building shows the endeavors of the Ottoman State to pay particular attention both to education, by building educational institutions, to religious awareness by building religious facilities, and to hygiene and health by founding and opening hammams and spas. 

Like the city of Novi Pazar, Hammam has experienced turbulent periods – it has been burnt, ruined, renewed, usurped, but it managed to survive. Unfortunately, the building is now in poor condition. Ravages of time, as well as negligence, have contributed to the fact that the building is at the edge of collapsing and that it is waiting for urgent construction works aimed at its preservation.