حمام

The traditional Iranian حمام عمومی was, until well into the 20th century, the social heart of a neighborhood. Most homes had no private bathing space, so people went to the public bathhouse on a fixed weekly day, men and women on alternating schedules. The architecture is its own art form: domed roofs studded with small skylights, vaulted entry corridors, a cold room (سربینه, sarbine) for changing, then a warm room, then the steaming central pool. Several spectacular examples have been preserved as museums, including حمام گنجعلی‌خان (Hammâm-e Ganjali-Khân) in Kerman, حمام وکیل (Hammâm-e Vakil) in Shiraz, and حمام علی‌قلی‌آقا (Hammâm-e Aliqoli Aghâ) in Isfahan. Inside Iran today, when a host says برو حمام (boro hammâm) "go to the bathroom," they almost always mean the shower in their own home. The grand old bathhouses are tourist sites now. The word stayed.