Ali Gholi Agha Hammam

Here, Ayatollah Bid-abadi Street is the point of interest for us. Since years ago, this part of Isfahan was covered with bid (or willow trees), and so the appellation: Bīd-ābād.

It is recorded by Hamze Isfahani, the 10th-century historian of Isfahan, that Isfahan had four gates at that time and one of them, Mah (the moon) or Asfish, was located in Bid-Abad neighborhood.

However, the neighborhood of Bid-abad formed a marginal part of the city for centuries. During the reign of Safavids, Ali-Qoli Aqa, who served both Shah Suleiman I and Shah Sultan Husayn, breathed a new life in the withered veins of Bid-abad. He built a number of buildings, for the common use of all people, which we are going to visit soon.

Well! After this brief history of Bid-Abad, it is time to take the first steps and delve into the beauty of this neighborhood. At the entrance of Bid-Abad, to your right, a small stream, Baba Hasan (father Hasan), shows off itself. Baba Hasan stream, in the days when passionate, dry lips of the city were soothed by the water from big streams (locally called madi), branched off from one of the main madis, madi-ye Fadan, and still lingers there. So, you can hold the hands of Baba Hasan, a humble, all-giving guide, and visit Bid-Abad under the shadow of willow trees, stretching their branches down to earth and bowing to those who tread the memories buried at their foot. 

As you go along the stream, you will reach the complex of buildings built by Ali-Qoli Aqa.