Basilica Cistern, Istanbul, Turkey

by timistravels on February 10, 2013

12/28/12

I must admit when we read about the ‘cisterns’ I thought, what’s the big deal? Why would I care to go to an underground water-gathering place? In the end I was wrong, this was very cool.

Though there are many cisterns under ground in Istanbul, there are only 2 currently open to the public. This cistern is close to Hagia Sophia, just across the train tracks. There seemed to be a long line all the time, mostly school-aged kids out on a class trip. We lucked out as when we arrived, we had almost no one in line.

The cistern was built in the 6^th century. Originally this area was the First Hill of Constantinople and the Stoa Basilica, and before it was turned into a cistern, the great Basilica that stood here was built in the 3^rd and 4^th centuries. There were over 7000 slaves that helped with the construction of the cistern. It had been basically forgotten until 1545 when it was a Frenchman was looking into the area and discovered that many locals got water by putting pails into holes in their basements.

In the far left hand corner from the entry, there are 2 Medusa heads on columns. One head is upside down and the other is on its side. No one really knows why they are here, but there is thought that these columns were from another building in town that was built during the late Roman period.

Water was provided to the Great Palace of Constantinople from this cistern and most of the area. When in the cistern it seems like a forest of marble columns, there are 336 all together! They are all 9 meters tall and spaced 4 meters apart. There are 12 rows of 28 columns!