#basilica cisterns

[victusinveritas]

A friend of mine got to wander around the cisterns under Istanbul early this morning and sent along these pictures.

[an-adventurers-blog]

Right next to the Ayasofya is the entrance to the Basilica Cisterns. The building leading to the cisterns is fairly small and unassuming, but once you go underground... The Basilica Cisterns were initially built in the 6th century to supply water to the Great Palace of Constantinople. Later, they were used by Topkapi Palace for water, before being forgotten for years. Once underground, the forest of marble columns is eerily lit and due to the reflection in the water, the columns seem to stretch on forever. These marble columns seem to be recycled from earlier structures. The shallow water once would have risen to the ceiling supplied via aqueducts from he Belgrade Forest, 19km to the north. The full capacity of the cistern is around 100,000 tonnes of water. The cisterns were rediscovered when someone noticed that locals could get water by dropping buckets into holes in their basements. Sometimes, the buckets would even come up with fish inside. Even today, people being bread down into the cisterns to feed the fish that live in the shallow water. Strangely, the bases of two of the columns are Medusa heads. It is unclear whether the heads were placed in the cisterns intentionally or if they are just used as column bases. This could also explain the upside-down and sideways nature of the two, maybe they just for better. Other explanations are that a reversal of an image of Medusa negates the power of her stare. The cisterns were amazing to see and it was so impressive that such a large structure is virtually underneath (or close to underneath) such a heavy building. While I wasn't cold while underground, definitely make this a stop if you are visiting Istanbul in the summer!!

[lenspatina]

Inside the Byzantine era cisterns underneath the city of Istanbul. Built with columns from various different buildings of every age and era, one with the shape of tears to mourn the hundreds of slaves who lost their lives building it.

[okayyall]

Friday: We left the Hagia Sophia and walked across the street to a small house, where we traveled underground to find the Basilica Cisterns, with 336 columns to support the underground water collection. We also found an old timey photo studio in the Cistern site, so we had to go for it...