The Basilica Cistern

Basilica Cistern

Istanbul was one of the most often besieged cities in the world and therefore needed permanent water supply. As a result, many aqueducts and underground cisterns were built during the Byzantine epoch. When the Turks took possession of Constantinople in 1453, they converted many of them into either small bazaars or storehouses.

Medusa

The largest and most beautiful of them is the Basilican Cistern, or Yerebatan Saray (underground palace) which was built probably around 542 by Emperor Justinian I. The Basilican Cistern has 336 columns most of which are topped with Byzantine Corinthian capitals. The cistern is 230 ft wide by 460 ft long.

Two Medusa heads were used to form bases for two columns in the far corner of the cistern. The position in which they were placed suggests that the people who put them there were Christians who did not want to revere a god of a pagan period. The water inside the underground cistern is collected rain water.