Public baths as "public area" in Qajar era Iran

The public sphere is a place for discussion and critique of power, which was first proposed theoretically by Jürgen Habermas. From his point of view, the background of this issue in the West goes back to salons, coffee houses and public places. This issue has a historical background in contemporary Iran as well as in the West. In such a way that these places and coffeehouses in particular, in Iran during the Qajar era, have always been considered as an area for criticism of power and the formation and continuation of the constitutionalist movement. Next to the coffeehouses, one of the places that has been mentioned as a public domain in Iran during this period (Qajar period) and has been mostly ignored by the researchers, is the public baths. Considering the above issue, this research tries to answer this question, how did public baths play a role as a "public area" in Qajar period Iran? The findings of the research indicate that public baths in Iran during the Qajar era, beyond purification and cleanliness, functioned as a social institution and as a public domain where many news and information were exchanged and discussed.