Photo: architectural monuments, museums and exhibitions, Museum complex «Women’s baths», Derbent

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Museum Complex «Maiden Baths»: From the Bath down the Aisle

Architectural Monuments • Museums and Exhibitions

There is a museum complex «Maiden Baths» in Derbent not far from the Juma Mosque, which was used from the XIX century to the 50s of the XX century. It was a traditional place for ablution before the wedding ceremony. A father brought here the future bride for the purification rite, which resembled a modern sorority party: after ablution in a separate room, the bride joined her girlfriends and they drank tea, talked and had fun. Maiden baths were built next to women’s baths of the XVII century, designed for all married women.

Maiden baths were located in a basement under high dome vaults and consisted of several rooms, two of which were used for bathing, and the other one — for changing clothes. After the restoration in 1992, the Maiden Baths complex housed a museum with the exposition «Culture and Life of Ancient Derbent». The museum exhibits demonstrate the customs of women’s bathing and tell about the life of women in ancient Derbent.

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