Basilica Cistern

The Basilica Cistern is a chamber built in the 6th century, under the Emperor Justinan I, to hold 80,000 cubic meters of water. It is located under the streets of Istanbul, supported by arches and 336 marble columns. This masterpiece of architecture is probably the most famous of the hundreds cistern built in Istanbul. This Cathedral size cistern now hold only a fraction of the water that carried during its history and it has been re open to the public after carful renovation works. The ceiling is supported by impressive 336 marble columns, each 9 metres (30 ft) high, arranged in 12 rows of 28 columns each . Intresting thing is that the majority of the columns in the cistern appear to have been recycled from the ruins of older buildings. One of the most famous of this “recycled” piece is probably the “head of the Medusa” raising from the water tank.