Byzantine Basilica Cistern

After a break for lunch, we enter the city beneath the city – the labyrinth-like Byzantine Basilica Cistern, which dates back to the 6th century and the reign of Emperor Constantine I. Here, the perfectly symmetrical columns of this vast underground chamber, backlit and reflected in the water, make for an otherworldly experience.

Image from Wikipedia

In the southeast section of the Hagia Sophia is this underground water reservoir (Yerebatan Sarayi) which was constructed for Byzantine Emperor Justinianus I (527-565). It would have been one of hundreds of subterranean cisterns used in Istanbul at the time. The site is called 'basilica' cisterns as a basilica once stood here. The cistern covers 9,800m2 and is 70m wide and 140m long. It could have held 100,000 tons of water. The cistern is reached by descending 52 steps and the ceiling is supported by 336 columns each 9m high. The columns are the main feature of the space and they take up much of the room; they are spaced at 4.8m intervals in 12 rows of 29 columns. The columns are of different styles and different types of marble and stone; they were probably gathered from other ancient structures. The walls and floor are brick plastered with brick dust mortar. One of the fascinating features of the cistern is the Roman Era Medusa head sculptures supporting two of the columns. The source of these works of art is unknown.

During the Byzantine period the cistern would have stored water for the palace; after 1453 the water continued to be used to supply water to Topkapi Palace where the Sultans lived but the Ottomans soon devised their own water facilities to provide them with running water  in the city rather than water that stood still in the cistern. From that time until 1544 when the cistern was rediscovered by a researcher, it was unused and forgotten.

Image from Wikipedia



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