First public toilet in Anatolia to become ‘Cleanliness Museum’
TOKAT – Demirören News Agency
The municipality of the Black Sea province of Tokat has decided to convert Anatolia’s first public toilet, a sixteenth century building, into the “Water and Cleanliness Museum,” local officials have said.“The public toilet was built by the Ottomans, but it has lately been used as a storage,” Yavuz Özseven, the provincial director of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB), said on Sept. 17.
Özseven thanked Eyüp Eroğlu, the mayor of Tokat, for his efforts in the conversion of the Ottoman-era public toilet.
“Until the 1850s, Tokat was a commerce center. So, many merchants were visiting the province, and this was the only public toilet in the region. Because of this, there were enormous queues in front of it, and everybody was trying to calm each other, saying, ‘Be patient’ while waiting. The name of the public toilet eventually became the ‘Be patient toilet’ colloquially.”
Restoration works started in the building, located in the historical Sulusokak region, added Özseven.
“In a short time, it will be converted into the ‘Water and Cleanliness Museum’ and be opened to tourism.”
