Steam bath in Thula city Republic of Yemen Architectural archaeological study

Abstract

The study of health facilities is one of the important archaeological and architectural studies as part of the architectural heritage of the city, and its presence can be considered a distinction for the city from the village as it constitutes an important element in the urban formation and cultural manifestations of the city, and among these facilities are saunas, which are built independently, whether single or attached to a religious facility, and considering the importance of this type of facilities, the research was directed to the study of the steam bath and study an architectural archaeological study, and the importance of the study lies in being the only bathroom in the city since its establishment to the present day, and the people of villages and neighboring areas come to benefit from its services, and it is one of the shared bathrooms allocated certain days for women and others for men, and Islamic architecture has known the type of shared bathrooms and specializes in the afternoon for men and the afternoon for women^[1], Despite its historical as well as functional importance, it did not receive a documented archaeological study except for what was done by the French researcher Lucien^[2] to limit some facilities in the city of Thala, but her study did not follow the proper architectural descriptive approach, and the study was interested in the architectural description of all service sections of the bathroom from halls and accessories and correcting all the errors mentioned by Lucine, and the study was also interested in knowing the extent of the architect's commitment to implementing the architectural conditions in the style of construction of the bathroom and the distribution of its service accessories, and comparing its planning The architect and its units with the baths spread in the Islamic world or pre-Islamic eras, which were all associated and shared a common denominator in the presence of three main halls of the bath, to which the bather gradually turns, in order to reach his architectural features.

To answer these previous questions, the study approaches the theoretical side through field visits that help the study in the descriptive and documentary approach, in addition to the analytical and comparative approach, to give a clear study on the steam bath as one of the health service facilities in the city of Thula.

[1] The system was when the bathroom was limited to receiving women, a handkerchief or a piece of linen cloth was hung at the entrance so that men never set foot on its threshold, and the bathroom workers had left the bathroom a short time ago and the workers replaced them, Khaled Azab, Jurisprudence of Islamic Architecture, Universities Publishing House, Cairo, 1997, p. 89.

[2] -Lucien Golvin, THULA ARCHITECTUTE ET URBANISME D'une cite' De Haute Montagne En Re'publiqe Arabe Du YE'MEN, Editions Recherche sur les Civilisations, Paris.1984.