Basilica Cistern
Sixth-century underground water cistern near Hagia Sophia, a forest of 336 columns walked on raised paths.
The Basilica Cistern, known in Turkish as Yerebatan Sarnıcı, was built under Justinian I in about 532 to store water for the Great Palace and the surrounding quarter of Constantinople. Water reached it through aqueducts from the Belgrade Forest, some twenty kilometres away. The chamber measures roughly 140 by 70 metres and could hold around 80,000 cubic metres, making it the largest of the several hundred cisterns that lie beneath the historic peninsula.
A brick vault rests on 336 marble columns set in twelve rows, most of them reused from earlier Roman buildings, which is why capitals and shafts vary so widely. Two column bases are carved with Medusa heads, one on its side and one upside down, and have become the cistern's best-known feature. Forgotten for centuries, the cistern was documented by the French traveller Petrus Gyllius in the sixteenth century, cleared in modern times and reopened to visitors in 2022 after major restoration, with contemporary artworks and lighting installed among the columns.
Highlights
- 336 reused marble columns carrying a brick vault over the water
- Two Medusa head column bases, one inverted and one on its side
- Raised walkways and lighting installed in the 2022 restoration
- Contemporary art and video works shown among the columns
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