Ammouneh Bath House, one of the oldest traditional Damascene men-free zone

Damascus, SANA In a little side alley in al-Ammarah neighborhood in the old city of Damascus, a group of women approaches a modest door hidden behind a curtain. They are about to enter a very special underworld, far away from the bustling
everyday life in the streets; Hammam Ammouneh, is one of the oldest traditional bath houses of Damascus and a jewel of Islamic cultural heritage which was recently rehabilitated and allocated for receiving fatigued women.

Ammounah bath is considered as one of the oldest baths in Damascus and of the first baths allocated for women, Deputy Director of Directorate-General for Antiquities and Museums (DGAM) Mohammad Nazir Awad told SANA.

The bath was recently rehabilitated, but its style of construction and decoration were maintained through using tradition materials, Awad said, elaborating that Ammouneh bath is the only public bath house in Damascus which still preserves the traditional heating system consisting of ducts, chimneys and steam windows.

Unlike the free-standing bathhouses of Turkey, and similar to the public baths in Morocco and Egypt,  Ammouneh bath house  is adjacent to other buildings, in
order to reduce heat loss through the walls. Despite its small scale, Hammam Ammouneh presents a rich variety of domes and squinches, typical of its historical era.

Hammam Ammouneh is a men-free zone all day long till 08:00 PM – this makes Ammouneh even more important to women . It’s an exceptional case, since most hammams in Damascus nowadays serve men.

H. Z/ Barry