Arab Baths (Banys Àrabs)

Behind this modest door lies one of the few buildings to survive from Madina Mayurqa, the Islamic city that James I conquered in 1229. It is a bathhouse, a hammam, probably built around the 10th or 11th century.

1How it worked

What survives is the hot room: a square space covered by a brick dome pierced with small skylights and held up by twelve columns with horseshoe arches. The capitals do not match, which suggests they were reused from earlier buildings, perhaps Roman ones. Hot air circulated beneath the floor, and steam arrived through channels.

A bath was much more than a place to wash. It was somewhere to meet, to talk and to purify yourself before prayer, with cold, warm and hot rooms that you passed through in order.

2A survivor

After the conquest, the Islamic city was almost completely transformed. This bath ended up inside a noble house, Can Serra, which gives the street its name. In the 19th century it was bought by the Fontirroig family, who even built a small bridge over the street to reach their garden.

Of all the baths Madina Mayurqa once had, this is the one that has come down to us.

Entry usually requires a ticket and opening times change with the season.

3What to look for

• The door on Carrer de Can Serra, as plain as that of any house.
• The streets of La Calatrava, narrow and twisting: they still follow the layout of the Islamic city.
• The garden walls, with palm trees peeping over the top.