The Basilica Cistern, also called the Yerebatan Sarayı or Yerebatan Sarnıcı, is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that still lie beneath the city of Istanbul, Turkey.
This cathedral-sized cistern is an underground chamber of 143 by 65 metres, capable of holding 80,000 cubic metres of water. The large space is broken up by a forest of 336 marble columns each 9 metres high. Curiously, in the base of two of these columns are carved the head of a Medusa.
The cistern, located in the historical peninsula of Istanbul, was built during the reign of emperor Justinianus in the 6th century, the age of glory of Eastern Rome, also called the Byzantine Empire. The cistern is surrounded by a firebrick wall with a thickness of 4 meters and coated with a special mortar for insulation against water. The cistern's water was provided from the Belgrade Woods—which lie 19km north of the city—via aquaducts build by the emperor Justinianus.
The cistern was used as a location for the James Bond film From Russia With Love.
This paragraph is taken from Wikipedia. Copyright information.
Address:
Yerebatan Cad 13, Sultanahmet, Eminönü
Contact:
212-5221259
Visiting times:
8:30-17:30 May-September, daily
8:30-16:00 October-April, daily
For more information: Basilica Cistern
Photos by the author.
Technorati tags: basilica, istanbul, travel, turkey, sultanahmet
1 comment:
It is like Moria from Lord of the rings.
It's great.
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