Basilica Cistern
Yerebatan Sarayi
Istanbul
This is one of my favourite places in the world.
I was walking past and couldn’t resist another visit.
From the street, you would never know it was there. A small unassuming stone building not much bigger than a bus shelter marks its location at street level. And sometimes a telltale queue of tourists might indicate that there was something to be seen there. For only 10 lire you enter this underground cavern.
A beautiful piece of Byzantine engineering, this cavernous vault was built by Justinian in 532 to satisfy the growing need for water for the Great Palace. For a century after the Ottoman conquest it remained undiscovered. It was only after locals starting lowering buckets through holes in their basements to collect water or to catch fish, that it was rediscovered.
Only two thirds of the original structure remains visible, the rest was bricked up during the 19th century. The roof is held up by 336 columns, each over 8m (26ft) high.
Visitors walk along walkways listening to the echoing sounds of classical music and dripping water. It is cool and dark and tranquil; an unexpected sanctuary in contrast to the bustle of modern Istanbul above.
At the far end of the structure, two columns rest on bases shaped in the form of Medusa's head. Plundered from earlier Byzantine monuments, they are thought to mark a shrine to the water nymphs.
I took some photos and drank in the atmosphere and then ascended blinking at the brightness and the heat of the midday sun.