The whole Mediterranean region shares a common object of cultural value – the hammam, the public Turkish bath.

The hammam has very specific features which reflect its importance and call for its promotion among the public: it is an architectural legacy and a living cultural heritage and as such it combines tangible and intangible heritage; it is well embedded in urban communities, filling an important role for neighborhoods and, in many cases, for the Medina as a whole, and yet it runs the risk of disappearing.

The main aim of Hammamed project is to raise awareness of the hammam as a common cultural heritage in the Mediterranean area and beyond mostly through public awareness raising activities, conferences and workshops, dissemination activities and specific actions for two selected hammams ( Hammam Ammuna in Damascus and Hammam Saffarin in Fez).

Among the expected results, social studies, rehabilitation design on ecological basis, hammam and neighbourhood days in Mediterranean cities, an exhibition and a documentary film.

The target group will be the scientific community of hammam related disciplines, selected governmental agencies and local population (especially youth, students, and women) and stakeholder representatives (teachers and hammam staff).

The partnership of Hammamed project is headed by Oikodrom, the Vienna Institute for Urban Sustainability, in association with the University of Liverpool, the French Institute for Near East of Damascus and ADER (Agence pour la Dédensification et la Réhabilitation de la Medina de Fès).

• Contribute to the awareness-raising for the importance of the hammam as a cultural heritage in its tangible and intangible aspects
• Promote an effective and integrated management for two selected hammams. (management includes all phases of the project cycle, from diagnosis to planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation)
• Encourage the accessibility to the hammams at the two selected cultural heritage sites: subsequently these pilot projects can be used as best practice examples for other hammams all over the Mediterranean region
• Encourage the knowledge of traditional social practices associated with the hammam in order to overcome constraints for actively using this kind of space, but also to enhance the knowledge about the unique architecture
• Encourage social and economic side effects through the successful revitalisation and modernisation of the two hammams: the surrounding areas should experience an example of urban regeneration

• University of Liverpool (United Kingdom)
  http://www.liv.ac.uk
• Ader-Fez – Agence pour la Dédensification et la Réhabilitation de la Medina de Fez (Morocco)
  http://www.aderfes.ma
• IFPO - Institute Francais du Proche Oriente (Syria)
  http://www.ifporient.org

• Research/Education & Training
• Museums, Exhibitions
• Intangible Heritage
• Conservation & Rehabilitation

• Participatory events (`Hammam Day`)
• Interactive webpage attracting actual and potential hammam users, especially young people
• Film and short movie clips on project activities
• Folklore booklet on the traditional use of the hammam
• Scientific publications disseminating the results of the international conferences. An architecture book will be published which will highlight the architecture of hammams in the Mediterranean region
• Itinerant exhibition