Exploring the Cisterna Basilica

While I was at the waiting area of the Cisterna Basilica in Istanbul, I was not very impressed with the ruins that are available to see here. There is a glass covered ruins here that visitors can see and I thought that it was the cistern itself. I thought that the entrance fee was a rip off since all this was is a well that was filled up. However, after some time we were told go go down a flight of stairs. It was only then that I saw what the Cisterna Basilica actually was. As visitors go down the flight of stairs they will be met by a huge cavern. There are several pillars here which support the roof and because of the way the pillars are designed, it not unlike a church basilica.

This whole cavern was used to store water hence it is called a cistern. During the time of Emperor Justinian I, it was decided to develop the city of Constantinople and one of the priorities is to have a stable source of water. Thus several cisterns were built across the city and this Cisterna Basilica is the largest of them. Currently, the cistern isn’t used to store water anymore and it is used as a museum to teach visitors of the history of Constantinople now known as Istanbul. What is impressive is the architecture of the entire structure. It truly looks like a basilica except that this is used to store water. The columns were all beautifully designed and it makes you wonder why bother doing this since it will all be underground and presumably under water. I doubt too many people actually saw this back then since it would have been full of water anyway.

[xmlgm {http://www.worldwanderings.net/kml/CisternaBasilica.kmz} zoom=19]