Grit Your Teeth Toilet
Sık Dişini Helası is a public toilet in Tokat, Turkey, believed to have been built in the 15th century.
It is located on Halit Street, adjacent to the historic Sulu Sokak Market. The 15th-century structure is thought to be “Anatolia's first public toilet.” In 2021, it became the Water and Sanitation Museum.
It is thought to have been created by converting one of the square rooms covered with a dome in an Ottoman bathhouse into a toilet with wooden partitions inside. It has a flat-arched door on the south facade. The walls are built of rubble stone, while the dome and pendentives are built of brick. The upper part of the entrance door wall on the south facade features a stone-brick alternating technique.
The building served as a public toilet until the 19th century. Due to its heavy use, it is thought to have been called “the toilet with tight teeth” among the people. Süheyl Ünver named this building “Şeyh Tusi Helası” in his notes on Tokat.
The building was used as a warehouse in the 19th century and suffered damage. In 2021, it was restored by the Tokat Municipality and converted into the Water and Sanitation Museum.
The museum displays the toilet stones of the historic building and traditional wet volume units such as toilet stones and pitchers used in the past.
Sık Dişini Helası is the setting for the novel “Sık Dişini Helası Cinayeti” (The Sık Dişini Helası Murder), which revolves around a murder that took place in this location.
