“The Historic Public Baths in Palestine” This book by Dr. Shukri Araf studies the public baths (known as Turkish baths) that historically spread in Palestine during the Mamluk and Ottoman periods. The study aims to document these bathhouses and identify what remains of them today, supported by urban and architectural plans, photographs, and a discussion of the socio-economic factors that contributed to their emergence and prosperity, as well as some of the social narratives and traditions associated with them.

The book consists of three chapters. The first chapter provides an introduction to the emergence of the bathhouse concept as an architectural type within its historical and social context, and the customs and traditions associated with it. This was carried out by examining its broader context in the Levant Region and tracing its development throughout the eras up to the Mamluk and Ottoman periods, which is the main focus of this book.

The second chapter studies public baths in the cities of Jerusalem, Acre, Gaza, Nablus, Safed, Jaffa, Hebron, Nazareth, Ramla, Tiberias, and others, as well as the factors that influenced their appearance, growth, and decline. It provides architectural documentation of these public baths.

The third chapter focuses on public bathhouses outside the cities, as well as sites such as pools, water springs, and water reservoirs that carried the name “al-Hammam,” whether or not they were used for the same purpose. The study hopes to serve as an important historical and documentary reference on these architectural phenomena, which experienced periods of peak prosperity before the beginning of the British Mandate in Palestine and the subsequent Israeli occupation.

No. of pages: 
Publication date: 2026
Languages: Arabic

ISBN 978-9950-303-33-1 (soft cover)
ISBN 978-9950-303-34-8 (hard cover)

Shukri Arraf

Dr. Shukri Arraf is a Palestinian researcher and lecturer, born on January 20, 1931 in Mi'lia, in the Upper Galilee of Palestine. He obtained his doctorate in Middle East History in 1985. Arraf authored more than fifty books that focus on the Arab roots in Palestine including family, social, heritage, village, endowment, and real estate. His publications include “The Vigilant Eyes of the Sultan: Police in Palestine”, “Al Saraya”, “The Caravanserais of Palestine”, “Land, Man and Effort” , “The sources of the Palestinian economy from the earliest periods to the year 1948”... and many others.

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