When Istanbul was Constantinople during the menses of the corking Roman , in addition to afterward Byzantium Empire , hundreds of subterranean cisterns were built underneath the streets in addition to houses to shop water. The largest in addition to the grandest of them all is the Basilica Cistern , then called because it lay beneath the Stoa Basilica , a large Byzantine populace square. This impressive construction alongside to a greater extent than than 3 hundred vaulted columns topped alongside Corinthian or Doric capitals appears similar a palace , earning the cistern its modern nickname of the “Sunken Palace”. Locally , it’s known equally Yerebatan Sarnıcı , Turkish for “underground cistern”.
The cistern was commissioned past times Emperor Justinian I in addition to built inward 532 to come across the H2O needs of the Great Palace in addition to following buildings. It is 140 meters long in addition to seventy meters broad , in addition to had a storage capacity of 100 ,000 tons. The ceiling is supported past times a wood of 336 marble columns , each nine meters high in addition to arranged inward precise rows in addition to columns. Many of these columns were salvaged from ruins of older buildings , probable brought to Constantinople from diverse parts of the empire , together alongside those that were used inward the construction of Hagia Sophia.
Photo credit: Marc Garrido Clotet/Flickr
Perhaps the most hitting sight inward the cistern are 2 giant heads of the mythical monster Medusa. The Medusa heads are used casually equally supports nether the 2 columns at the northwest border of the cistern. One of them is positioned upside downward in addition to the other is tilted to the side. Their foreign positioning in addition to the mystery of their rootage attracts the most attending from visitors. It’s said that the heads were then placed to counter the deadly gaze of Medusa. However , the truth powerfulness hold upward a combat to a greater extent than practical than mythical — this orientation provided proper back upward to the columns.
After Istanbul roughshod to the Ottoman conquest inward 1453 , the Ottomans established their ain H2O facilities inward the metropolis because they preferred running H2O over even then water. The cistern was shut in addition to forgotten. Nearly a century afterward , when Dutch scholar Petrus Gyllius was inward Constantinople researching Byzantine antiquities , he heard stories of how local residents close Hagia Sophia were able to obtain H2O past times lowering buckets into holes inward their basement. Sometimes they fifty-fifty caught fish. Gyllius decided to investigate in addition to eventually managed to access the cistern through the basement of ane of the houses inward that area. Even after the regain , the Ottomans didn’t process the cistern alongside honor in addition to turned it into a rubbish dump.
Once it was possible to tour the surreptitious cistern on a boat , but similar James Bond did inward the 1963 movie From Russian Federation alongside Love. In 1985 , during restoration operate , some 50 ,000 tons of mud were removed from the cistern in addition to elevated platforms built throughout to supercede the boats. The cistern was opened to the populace inward 1987.
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Photo credit: Clint/Flickr
Photo credit: Ishan Khosla/Flickr
Photo credit: Sergey Yeliseev/Flickr
Photo credit: Bruno Girin/Flickr
The inverted Medusa Head. Photo credit: mtgf/Flickr
Another Medusa Head lying on its side. Photo credit: Nick Wadge/Flickr
Photo credit: Sergey Yeliseev/Flickr
Photo credit: Dennis Jarvis/Flickr
Sources: Lonely Planet / yerebatan.com / Istanbul Trails