A 500-year-old structure designed by the legendary architect of the Ottoman Empire, Mimar Sinan, the Zeyrek Çinili Hamam reopened in September 2023 following a comprehensive restoration. The grand opening was accompanied by an exhibition and a book titled Barbarossa’s Çinili Hamam: A Masterpiece by Sinan, which brought together articles on the hammam’s history, its restoration, architectural features, and the broader subject of hammam culture.

Today, the Zeyrek Çinili Hamam functions as a cultural complex, comprising a museum, a reading room, workshop spaces, and a Byzantine cistern that hosts contemporary art events. In February 2024, the venue hosted a series of conversations with the contributing authors of the first book.

Titled Poetry and Calligraphy at Zeyrek Çinili Hamam: A Conversation with Bora Keskiner, the book builds upon one of these conversations Aykut Şengözer, one of the editors of the first book, had with Islamic arts expert Bora Keskiner. Centered on the six unique hammamiye panels currently on display at the Zeyrek Çinili Hamam Museum, the book explores the journey of calligraphy and poetry across the Islamic world, focusing in particular on the evolution and transformation of the nastaliq script from Iran to the Ottoman Empire. The publication concludes with a detailed commentary and interpretation of the Persian couplets inscribed on the panels.

As with the first book, this new publication aims to inspire further discussion and research, this time through the lens of poetry and calligraphy, while contributing to the growing body of cultural programming at Zeyrek Çinili Hamam.