Honsalar Baths

The Honsalar Baths are a historic Ottoman hammam in Kastamonu District of Kastamonu Province in north-central Anatolia, in the forested mountain landscape between the Pontic ranges and the Black Sea coast that has been one of the best-preserved landscapes of traditional Ottoman architecture in Turkey. Kastamonu is one of the most historically significant cities of northern Anatolia, with a history encompassing the Paphlagonian kingdom, Byzantine frontier zone, the Candarid principality, and four centuries of Ottoman provincial administration, and its hammams formed part of an urban infrastructure reflecting the city's considerable regional importance. The Honsalar Baths served the community of this well-preserved provincial Ottoman capital, whose ensemble of mosques, madrasas, hans, and domestic architecture has made it a destination for students of Ottoman provincial urban culture.