Playing Sultan in the Basilica Cistern

View of the Cistern as I descended the stairs into the chamber

As the Basilica Cistern or Yerebatan Sarnici (Sunken Cistern) is just two houses away from my hotel, it was the first place to see the next morning after breakfast. The entrance to the Cistern or Sarnici as the locals call it is a non-descript building no more than a large store front with a small wall plaque showing the name and the period the cistern was established. As I had no prior knowledge of this wonder, I could not believe my eyes as I descended a flight of steps to the cavernous bowels of the cistern. It was completely a different subterranean world.

It is reputed to be the largest of many ancient cisterns that lie underneath the city of Istanbul. In fact it measures 453 feet by 212 feet with an area of 105,000 square miles and has the capacity for holding 2,800,000 cubic feet of water. Indeed it was the source of water for the palace of then Constantinople and the surrounding area within the historical old city, as it was just a few feet away from Hagia Sophia and other historical centers of power.

One of the upside down Medusa heads

This cavernous chamber is held in place by lots of sturdy marble and granite columns, 336 all together that are strategically arranged in 12 rows of 28 columns that stand 30 feet high. The top end of each column has almost a different stylistic design and engraved decoration in the Corinthian or Ionic styles with some depicting other expressions. Two unique columns at the far end of the cistern unlike the rest of the columns had the heads of Medusa engraved at the base, basically at a human knee level. I had to squat down by Medusa to have my picture taken at the same level as she was with both our heads in opposite directions.

The engraved images were mesmerizing especially given the context of the eerie chamber that was somewhat dark well of pillars jutting from a vast pool of water and towering 30 feet high with occasional water droplets baptizing you as you wander around on raised platform above the water so you don’t have to swim through the huge space. 

Cave-like chamber

It was noted that the Cistern has had several restorations to maintain its stability, repair cracked columns and evacuate mud build-up especially as houses are now built on top of it with intense daily human activity putting its pressure on the edifice. In fact, if not observant, you would not realize there is such a gigantic space below your feet as you walk the pavement or dine in restaurants or sleep in hotels that are all at normal street level on Yerebatan and other adjourning streets including the tram rail line. By the time you end the tour and emerge at the exit, you suddenly realize you had traveled almost ten blocks away from where you went in.

The Sultan issuing Edicts

But before I made that exit, I stopped over by the north east end of it where some creative Turkish business savvy young folk offer costumed photo shoots for a fee. They have an assemblage of different Sultanate court attires, from the robes of the Sultan to those of the Queens and other palace officials. They come in several colors with palatial grandeur, and head wears, prayer beads and other accoutrement to match. I made a selection of some gold robes with black trims and golden head gear with burgundy band with all the other paraphernalia of the office of the Sultan and sat on a saffron throne to take some commanding pictures decreeing edicts to my subjects. I may not have lived in that era but at that moment, I was catapulted back several centuries in every way possible. Some British ladies watching me pose openly expressed their admiration.

For the movie buff, the Cistern was the location for the 1963 James Bond movie, ‘From Russia with Love’.