Basilica Cistern
The Basilica Cistern [1] is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns under the city of Istanbul (formerly Constantinople), Turkey. The cistern, is close to the Hagia Sophia.
History
Emperor Justinian I commissioned his city prefect Longinus to build it.[2] It was completed in 532, after the Nika riots.[2] As many as 7,000 slaves worked to build the cistern.[3]
The large cistern provided a water source for the emperor's palace.[4] Sometime before the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453 the cistern was closed.[4] It was discovered in 1545 by Petrus Gyllius. After that Ottoman city officials used it for dumping waste including corpses.[5] It has been restored at least three times.[5] In 1985 it was closed for cleaning again.[4] In 1987 it was opened to the public as a tourist attraction.[4] 2 million tourists visited the Cistern in 2013.
Size
The cistern is a huge underground room that measures about 138 metres (453 ft) by 64.6 metres (212 ft)[6] It is about 10,000 square metres (2.5 acres) in area.[7] The cistern can hold 80,000 cubic metres (21,000,000 US gal) of water.[7] The ceiling is supported by 336 marble columns.[8] Each one is 40.75 metres (133.7 ft) high.[8]
Modern Culture
The cistern was used for a James Bond movie From Russia with Love.[9] Also the 2009 movie The International was shot here.[9] The 2011 video game, Assassin's Creed: Revelations includes scenes from the Basilica Cistern.[9]
Basilica Cistern Media
The second Medusa head pillar
Art installation inside Basilica Cistern
Columns and vaults of Basilica Cistern
Unique "peacock-eyed" column in the Basilica Cistern
Cisterna Basilica is located to the west of Hagia Sophia and is of a similar size. The square on the left of the map marks the location of the Cistern of Philoxenos.
References
- ↑ Turkish: Yerebatan Sarayı – "Sunken Palace", or Yerebatan Sarnıcı – "Sunken Cistern"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian, ed. Michael Maas (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005), p. 68
- ↑ Aigerim Korzhumbayeva. Istanbul’s (Constantinople) 6th Century Basilica Cistern (20 July 2012)ELECTRUM MAGAZINE. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Basilica CisternLonely Planet. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Verity Campbell, Turkey (Footscray (VIC); Oakland, CA: Lonely Planet Publications, 2007), p. 108
- ↑ The Basilica Cistern. ibb.gov.tr. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Basilica Cistern, IstanbulTravel Info Exchange, Inc.. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Pierre Gilles; Kimberly May Byrd, Pierre Gilles' Constantinople: A Modern English Translation with Commentary (New York, NY: Italica Press, 2008), p. 101
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 walking in a 6th century cistern underneath the City of Istanbul, Turkey (16 February 2015)Kos Media, LLC. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
Other websites
- Basilica Cistern by Gizemli Kişi
- The Basilica Cistern, the Coolest Spot in Town
- Kerim Bey's Escape Route (Basilica Cistern) Archived 2015-10-29 at the Wayback Machine
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lua error in Module:Commons_link at line 62: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).. |