Üsküdar Atik Valide Sultan Baths

Üsküdar Atik Valide Sultan Baths is a historically significant Ottoman hammam in Üsküdar, built as part of the magnificent külliye (charitable complex) commissioned by Nurbanu Sultan, the Venetian-born consort of Sultan Selim II and mother of Sultan Murad III, who became known as the Atik Valide Sultan (Old or Senior Queen Mother) and was designed by the imperial architect Mimar Sinan — making this hammam one of the finest examples of the sixteenth-century Ottoman hammam tradition at its architectural and institutional peak. The Atik Valide Sultan complex in Üsküdar is one of Mimar Sinan's masterpieces and the largest külliye on the Asian shore of Istanbul, including a mosque, two madrasas, a caravanserai, a hospice, a hospital, and this hammam — a comprehensive charitable complex endowed by one of the most powerful women in Ottoman history, whose political influence during the period of the 'Sultanate of Women' made her the effective co-ruler of the empire during her son's reign. This hammam provides the full Ottoman bathing experience designed by the greatest architect of the Ottoman golden age for the most powerful queen mother of the sixteenth century — a facility of historical importance whose continued operation as a genuine hammam makes it one of the most culturally significant bathing experiences in all of Istanbul.