Experience the Shahi Hamam now!

The exquisiteness of 17^th century royal bath revived

Jahangir, the Mughal Emperor, was saddened with the untreatable illness of his beloved wife Noor Jahan, when he was advised to call one of the physicians named Hakim Shaikh Ilm-ud-din Ansari to his court for her treatment. The incurable illness had taken the Emperor and the Queen into much distress. The physician guessed the illness and cured it by making the Queen walk on burning sand. The Emperor was astonished and cheerful at the successful treatment of his Queen and awarded the physician with the title of Wazir Khan, meaning a High Court Official.

The physician became part of the Royal Court and later in Shah Jahan’s rule remained close to him. The same man is still remembered today with his remarkable projects, including the Wazir Khan Hamam (Shahi Hamam) and the Wazir Khan Mosque.

The Shahi Hamam was built in 1634 inside the Delhi Gate along the path to Wazir Khan Mosque which was also under construction during the same time. Today, the Shahi Hamam is the only monumental building in Pakistan which represents the Central Asian/Turkish/Irani tradition of public hot baths. It was designed as a public bathhouse to service both the visiting travellers as well as the inhabitants of the Walled City.

According to some historical accounts, the Hamam was used extensively during Mughal times. Although remains found in the Lahore Fort, the Shalimar Gardens, Wah Gardens and some of the larger Havelis in the Walled City indicate that private baths might have existed during the Mughal and Sikh eras, the Wazir Khan Hamam (Shahi Hamam) is the only monumental public bath in the subcontinent from that period.

The Shahi Hamam, like many other historic buildings, witnessed ups and downs. Its heating system was destroyed during the Sikh rule and during the British era it was converted to a living quarter. After 1947 it housed a boys’ primary school, a girls’ vocational school, a dispensary and offices for various government departments. Makeshift structures, to provide residences for the government employees, were also added on the roof. The northwestern rooms were rented out as shops by the Department of Auqaf while additional shops transpired along the building’s northern, western and southern façades, which eventually damaged the building. In short, every effort was made to destroy the elegance of Shahi Hamam.

The Hamam is a single storey building and covers an area of about 1,000 square meters. At present it has 21 inter-connected rooms. These rooms originally served as bathrooms for men and on separate days for women only. The entire Hamam was lit up through small openings on the roof which also provided ventilation. There was a provision for separate hot, steam and cold bath. The people would enter from the western side, which was the main entrance to Hamam. They would get their towels and accessories for bathing and pass time in the waiting area for their turn. The people were taken for bathing and massage in separate rooms. Complete body hygiene facilities were provided there. This was a very modern mechanism at that time which today is charged heavily by spa salons. A hypocaust system, the pillars or channels, provided steam for heating up the marble floors in the hot bathrooms, whereas wood logs were used to heat the water and convert it into steam.

This interesting mechanism and technique was hidden from the public till the Hamam was recently conserved by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and Walled City of Lahore Authority with the funding of Norwegian Embassy. The government of Punjab tried to conserve the Hamam in 1991. The process had stopped short of fully realising the original configuration of the bathhouse, its waterworks and its floor finishes, and the hurried covering up of the base of the building with a marble floor equalled the loss of the opportunity to know the building and its functions in detail.

Now, anyone can experience the conserved Shahi Hamam. Almost fifty two encroachments from the outer boundary of Hamam were removed. The main entrance of Hamam from the western side has also been restored now. The old marble floor was hollowed out and small pillar like structures were exposed in various rooms of the Hamam which is the hypocaust system. The small pillars and cave like entrances into a main Jacuzzi are astounding. The centuries old fresco work, under the supervision of qualified Sri Lankan experts, has also been conserved for the generation ahead to see. The main cold bathroom is a beautiful example of fresco work, which has no doubt a magical effect on the visitors. The waiting area has now been converted into a conference/seminar room where anyone can watch a documentary on the use and conservation of Shahi Hamam. While walking on the black steel aisles one can look at the entire hypocaust system and imagine the old time spa and sauna baths. The Hamam was opened for public in June 2015. Now, one can have audio visual and tourist guides facility inside the Shahi Hamam. A curio shop has been set up where one can purchase the publications related to Hamam. It meets international standards by all means.

The administration of Hamam told me that its historic function was examined by removing all modern elements that concealed the underlying historical features of a functional bathhouse. This process revealed changes the building had been subjected to over its life. Sub-soil investigations were also conducted to determine soil conditions and constructions. Throughout the excavation process artifacts were also found and conservation of the Hamam was completed in almost two years.

This unique system is discovered for the first time in Pakistan. I am glad that some constructive work is going on to preserve the historic fabric and hope for more such projects in Pakistan.