These baths were built for Süleyman the Magnificent  by Sinan , and are named after Roxelana, the sultan's scheming wife. They were designated for the use of the congregation of Haghia Sophia  when it was used as a mosque. With the women's entrance at one end of the building and the men's at the other, their absolute symmetry makes them perhaps the most handsome baths in the city.
The building is now a government-run carpet shop, but the baths' original features are still clearly visible. A look around it is a must for those who have no intention of baring themselves in a public bath, but are curious about what the interior of a Turkish baths is like.
Each end starts with a camekan, a massive domed hall which would originally have been centred on a fountain. Next is a small soğukluk, or intermediate room, which opens into a hararet, or steam room. The hexagonal massage slab in each hararet, the göbek taşı, is inlaid with coloured marbles, indicating that the baths are of imperial origin.

The sultan's "favorites" in the harem were known as haseki (hah-seh-key); a favorite who mothered a child of the sultan was a haseki sultan. Haseki Sultan Roxelana, wife of Suleyman the Magnificent, hired the royal architect Sinan to build this bath a few years before she died. It's a twin bath with segregated sections for men and women, sharing a common wall at the center of the building. Notice that the symmetrical complex is made up of two identical buildings, side by side. The men's section, facing Hagia Sophia, has a fine colonnaded portico by the entrance. The bath was recently renovated into an exhibition gallery.

ROXELANA

Süleyman the Magnificent's power-hungry wife Roxelana (1500-58, Haseki Hürrem in Turkish), rose from being a concubine in the imperial harem to become his chief wife, or first kadm . Thought to be of Russian origin, she was also the first consort permitted to reside within the walls of Topkapi Palace .
Roxelana would stop at nothing to get her own way.
When Süleyman's grand vizier and friend from youth, Ibrahim Paşa, became a threat to her position, she persuaded the sultan to have him strangled. Much later, Roxelana performed her coup de grace. In 1553 she persuaded Süleyman to have his handsome and popular heir, Mustafa, murdered by deaf mutes to clear the way for her own son Selim to inherit the throne.