Walking into a hammam for the first time, in celebration of a friend’s imminent marriage, is a time capsule of an experience. Hammam Al-Sultan, the establishment in question, is Egypt’s most popular traditional bathhouse, preserving the legacy and aura enjoyed for over a millennium. Going through the hammam’s Arabesque vintage-wooden doors feels like a Middle Eastern fever dream, as if I have walked into the setting of One Thousand and One Nights. From the moment I step foot into the bathhouse’s lobby, my olfactory senses are overwhelmed with heavily aromatic incense. My eyes, on the other hand, take their sweet time to grow accustomed to the dim-yet-welcoming yellow lanterns placed on the walls. A guide, appearing almost out of thin air, quietly leads me past a polished-stone fountain, flowing right in the center of the lounge, and onto an Arab-style seating (neatly cushioned above the mahogany parquet flooring) to lay on until it is time to change into the appropriate attire. In the 15 or so minutes it takes for it to be my turn, I curiously look around, observing toweled passersby as they go in and out of the…
Visiting a Hammam: Dipping into Egypt’s Disappearing Bathhouse Culture
August 28, 2022
