Vakil Bath

🕰️When was it built?

The bath was built in the Zand era on the order of Karim Khan Zand. Accounts of its building give 1187 AH (1773) for Karim Khan's order, but the exact year it was finished is not clear. It is on Iran's National Heritage List as number 917.

🏛️What was it built for?

The bath was built for public washing, and most details of its plan are about keeping the heat in. A small sloping entrance, a vestibule below ground level and a bent path to the changing room kept cold air out and warm air in.

👀What you will see

• The sarbineh, or changing hall, is a regular octagon, and eight single-piece stone columns in the middle hold up its domed roof.
• The garmkhaneh, or hot room, is paved with stone, and narrow passages under its floor carried hot air and steam.
• Two shahneshins sit beside the hot room and two governor's alcoves on either side of the khazineh, each with a marble pool.
• Under the dome are lime-plaster carvings whose subjects come from religious beliefs, customs and folk stories.
• The khazineh, the hot-water pool, is south of the hot room, and its water was heated in two large cauldrons.

🎒Good to know before you go

• The sloping entrance leads down to a vestibule below street level; mind the change in level as you go in.