Sultan Amir Ahmad Bathhouse: Exploring Kashan’s Architectural Bathhouse

This historic bathhouse is one of the most beautiful and oldest bathhouses in Iran, built during the Qajar era. The Sultan Amir Ahmad Bathhouse is located in the city of Kashan and is visited by many domestic and foreign tourists annually.

It is interesting to know that the historic bathhouses of Kashan have been of interest to tourists throughout history. The famous French traveler Chardin also had the experience of traveling to Kashan and mentioned that the bathhouses of this city are excellent and clean.

This ancient bathhouse is registered as one of the national monuments of Iran. Let’s continue to introduce this beautiful historical landmark in more detail.

Architecture of the Sultan Amir Ahmad Bathhouse

This bathhouse has an area of about 1,000 square meters and has plaster decorations including seven-layer plasterwork, turquoise and gold-colored tiles, and beautiful lime plastering on the ceilings and walls. This bathhouse has internal sections including the Entrance or Forecourt, Portal (sardar), vestibule (passage), changing room (Sarbineh), khazineh (a place where water was heated), Caldarium (Garmkhaneh), two water wells, and more. To preserve the heat, the architecture of this bathhouse is designed to be slightly lower than the ground level.

The beautiful roof of this bathroom has a wonderful architecture that provides an ideal opportunity for photographers to take pictures.

Main Sections of the Sultan Amir Ahmad Bathhouse

This ancient bathhouse has two main sections, small and large. In this part, we will introduce more about the interior space of the bathhouse.

Entrance or Forecourt

The first interior section of this bathhouse is called the entrance (jelokhan). When you enter the bathhouse, you go from the forecourt and entrance towards the portal.

Portal (sardar)

It is the boundary between the entrance and the changing room. In the portal of this bathhouse, there are beautiful tile works and plasterwork with floral and shrub motifs, pigeons, statues, and images of women and men and hunting scenes around the city.

Vestibule and Corridor (hashti)

After the portal, there is an octagonal space that leads to the changing room through a corridor. These corridors are usually built in a winding pattern so that the temperature change happens gradually. Because sudden temperature changes can be harmful to visitors.

Changing Room (sarbineh)

This part is divided into two different spaces by eight columns. In the dressing room, you can see beautiful decorations and plasters. The changing room has an octagonal shape with a large pool and a beautiful fountain in the middle. Around this pool there are platforms for people to rest and change clothes. Before these platforms, there are basins where people can wash their feet before climbing up the stairs.

Caldarium (Garmabeh)

The most important part of a bathhouse is the hot room. In addition to the main hot room, there is a small hot room next to a space called the Khazineh, which was for the nobility and aristocrats. This space has 4 columns that divide this bathhouse into three parts. In fact, the middle part leads to the Khazineh. The left and right parts have pools and are used for washing and bathing.

Roof of the Bathhouse

There are glasses on the dome of the bathhouse roof that not only add to the beauty but also provide light for the bathhouse. These glassess also prevent the interior of the bathhouse from being seen.

Address and How to Get to Sultan Amir Ahmad Bath

This bathhouse is located in one of the historic neighborhoods of Kashan. The street leading to this bathhouse is Alavi and the alley is Sultan Amir Ahmad. Fortunately, you can go to this place by using your own vehicle as well as public transportation and visit the bathhouse.

Best Time to Visit Sultan Amir Ahmad Bathhouse

Based on the warm weather of Kashan, it is recommended to visit the tourist attractions of this city, especially this beautiful bathhouse, in the spring and autumn seasons. The best months for visiting this sightseeing attraction are also May and June, which is also Golabgiri (making Rosewater) season in Kashan. The average visit time to this attraction is also about two hours.

Hotels and Restaurants near Sultan Amir Ahmad Bath

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Around this bath, there are beautiful and luxurious hotels such as Apadana Hotel, Ameriha, and traditional guesthouses such as Atlasi and Sang Poloy. Restaurants such as Talar-e Ayneh Restaurant, Khaneh-ye Noghli Restaurant, Abbasi Traditional Restaurant, and Mozaffari Restaurant are also located around this historic bath, serving very delicious and tasty dishes.

Final Words

Given the location of this bath in one of the historic neighborhoods of Kashan, other tourist attractions are located nearby. Fortunately, you have the opportunity to visit other sightseeing places around it, such as Kushk-e Safi Aqueduct, Agha Bozorg Mosque, Tabatabaeis’ House, Boroujerdi‘s House, and Abbasis‘ House, in addition to visiting this beautiful bath. To provide you with more information, we would like to mention that there are many historic baths in Kashan that you can also visit. Baths such as Gozarno, Fin Garden, Abdolrazzagh Khan, and Mohtasham are very interesting and worth seeing for visitors interested in historic places. We look forward to meeting you in Kashan.

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