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One of the magnificent ancient buildings of İstanbul is the Basilica Cistern located in the southwest of Hagia Sofia. Constructed for Justinianus I, the Byzantium Emperor (527-565), this big underground water reservoir is called as “Yerebatan Cistern” among the public because of the underground marble columns. As there used to be a basilica in the place of the cistern, it is also called Basilica Cistern.

The cistern is 140 m long, and 70 m wide, and covers a rectangular area as a giant structure. Accessible with 52-step staircase, the Cistern shelters 336 columns, each of which is 9 m high. Erected at 4.80 m intervals from one another the columns are composed of 12 rows, each has 28 columns. The case-bay of the cistern is conveyed by the columns through arches. Majority of the columns, most of which is understood to have been compiled from the ancient structures and sculpted of various kinds of marbles, is composed of a single part and one of it is composed of two parts. The head of these columns bear different features in parts. 98 of them reflect the Corinthian style and part of them reflect the Dorian style. The cistern has 4.80 m high brick walls, and the floor is covered by bricks, and plastered by a thick layer of brick dust mortar for water tightness. Covering 9,800 sqm area in total, the cistern has an estimated water storage capacity of 100,000 tons.

Except couple of the edged and grooved columns of the cistern, majority of them are shaped as a cylinder. Two Medusa heads, which are used as supports under the two columns at the northwest edge of the cistern, are the great work of art from the Roman period. What attracts most attention from the visitors is that the structure from which the Medusa heads have been taken is unknown. The researchers often consider that it has been brought for being used as supports to the column at the time of construction of the cistern.

The cistern was subject to repeated renovations since its establishment. Renovated twice during the reign of the Ottoman Empire, the cistern was repaired during the rule of Ahmed III (1723) by the Architect Kayserili Mehmet Ağa for the first time. And the second repair was made during the rule of Sultan Abdulhamid II (1876-1909). In republican period, the cistern was cleaned by Istanbul Municipality in 1987, and was opened to visits for creating a route. Another extensive cleaning was made in May 1994.

This mysterious venue is an integral part of the Istanbul itineraries and has been visited -among others- by the US former President Bill Clinton, Wim Kok the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Lamberto Dini, Former Minister of foreign Affairs of Italy, Göran Persson, Former Prime Minister of Sweden and Thomas Klestil, Former prime Minister of Austria until today.

Currently operated by Kültür A.Ş. (Culture Co.), one of the affiliates of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, the Basilica Cistern functions as a museum and is the home for many national and international events