Hidden 800-year-old Muslim hamam discovered in Spanish bar
THE OWNERS of a bar in Spain’s Seville recently made a surprising discovery as they began renovation work on the bar and found out that the bar housed a hidden and perfectly preserved 12th-century hamam, or Turkish bathhouse, with its walls covered with beautiful paintings.
What tipped the owners off was a starshaped skylight that emerged within the first few blows of a hammer when the work first began inside Giralda, a bar in the heart of this southern Spanish city.
The discovery was “completely unexpected,” explained Alvaro Jimenez, the archaeologist assigned to monitor all such renovation works undertaken near Seville’s Cathedral, a protected area.
In total, they uncovered 88 skylights, star-shaped and octagonal, in the roof of this Moorish-styled bar with tiled walls that takes its name from La Giralda – once the minaret of the Great Mosque that now serves as the Cathedral’s bell tower.
There was even more to follow, with workers uncovering beautiful artworks on the walls of the room, which measures 200 square meters (2,100 square feet), as well as the former hamam’s warm, hot and cold rooms.
More than 800 years old, the thermal baths along with their artwork, sculptures and wall fittings were perfectly preserved.
That was thanks to the work of an early 20th-century architect called Vicente Traver who carefully hid it away when installing two extra floors.
“We thought the architect had destroyed it but we realise now he saved it,” Jimenez told Agence France-Presse (AFP) and added, “He saved what he found and preserved it for the future.”
Conquered by the Almohad dynasty in 1147, Seville was one of the two capitals of their empire alongside Marrakesh, in what is now Morocco.
“Seville Cathedral is built on the remains of the Almohad Aljama mosque, the construction of which began in 1172, and which was inaugurated in 1198 with the completion of the minaret, La Giralda,” he said.
“The baths are located in the southern part of the city that the Almohads transformed into their political, religious and economic center.”
Now visible above the bar’s existing tiles are ornate walls and engraved white arches.
The bar, which will reopen soon, has been transformed into a living museum, completely restyled to reflect its history, a place to reflect on the Islamic artwork and architecture, as the city’s residents would have done eight centuries ago.
FOREIGN Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, who was in Budapest yesterday for a meeting with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto, was handed 412 artifacts the country seized from a smuggler six years ago.
“We are excited to have them back in Turkey and I thank you on behalf of my country,” Çavuşoğlu told Szijjarto as the two ministers posed next to the artifacts.
The head of a Roman-era marble statue, marble figurines, coins and several other ancient artifacts were found in the vehicle of a Turkish citizen stopped by Hungarian customs officers in June 2015. The Culture and Tourism Ministry had launched a legal bid for the return of artifacts to Turkey while Turkish archaeology experts analyzed the artifacts and found that all originated from Turkey. A lengthy legal process was accelerated in January after new talks between Turkish and Hungarian officials. The artifacts, which will be brought to Turkey by a Foreign Ministry plane, will be exhibited at the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in the capital Ankara.
Turkey and Hungary maintain close ties, dating back to Ottoman times, though the relations have boosted further in recent years.
Artifact smuggling is a worrying issue for Turkey that has been home to a diverse array of civilizations for centuries. The Culture and Tourism Ministry pursues legal action for the return of artifacts smuggled into other countries while trying to thwart the smuggling of artifacts into Turkey from neighboring Syria where lawlessness stemming from civil war exacerbated the smuggling.
Since 2002, 4,441 artifacts have been returned to Turkey thanks to the government’s efforts, but officials say tens of thousands of artifacts still remain abroad.
Most of the artifacts from Turkey have been smuggled to Western countries like the U.S., Britain, France, Germany and Switzerland, according to Culture and Tourism Ministry officials. Among them are tiles from the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque that are currently located in Paris’ Louvre Museum and a statue of the Greek goddess Tyche (Thyke) in the Brussels Royal Museum of Fine Arts.