Thumb Istanbul, Basilica CisternThumb Istanbul, la citerne basiliqueThumb Yerebatan SarayıThumb La tête à l'enversThumb Tête pressée

Yerebatan Sarayı

The Basilica Cistern (Turkish: Yerebatan Sarayı - "Sunken Palace", or Yerebatan Sarnıcı - "Sunken Cistern"), is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that lie beneath the city of Istanbul (formerly Constantinople), Turkey. The cistern, located 500 feet (150 m) southwest of the Hagia Sophia on the historical peninsula of Sarayburnu, was built in the 6th century during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I.

History
The name of this subterranean structure derives from a large public square on the First Hill of Constantinople, the Stoa Basilica, beneath which it was originally constructed. Before being converted to a cistern, a great Basilica stood in its place, built between the 3rd and 4th centuries during the Early Roman Age as a commercial, legal and artistic centre. The basilica was reconstructed by Ilius after a fire in 476.

Ancient texts indicated that the basilica contained gardens, surrounded by a colonnade and facing the Church of Hagia Sophia According to ancient historians, Emperor Constantine built a structure that was later rebuilt and enlarged by Emperor Justinian after the Nika riots of 532, which devastated the city.

Historical texts claim that 7,000 slaves were involved in the construction of the cistern.

The enlarged cistern provided a water filtration system for the Great Palace of Constantinople and other buildings on the First Hill, and continued to provide water to the Topkapı Palace after the Ottoman conquest in 1453 and into modern times.

In media
The cistern was used as a location for the 1963 James Bond film From Russia with Love. In the film, it is referred to as being constructed by the Emperor Constantine, with no reference to Justinian. Its location is a considerable distance from the Soviet (now Russian) consulate, which is located in Beyoğlu, the "newer" European section of Istanbul, on the other side of the Golden Horn.

The finale of the 2009 film The International takes place in a fantasy amalgam of the Old City, depicting the Basilica Cistern as lying beneath the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, which, in the film, is directly adjacent to the Süleymaniye Mosque.

In the 2011 video game, Assassin's Creed: Revelations, the player controlled character, Ezio Auditore, is given the chance to explore a section of this cistern in a memory sequence entitled The Yerebatan Cistern.

Source: Wikipedia

19 favorites and 2 comments

favorites
  • Alexandre Katuszynski sur flickrAlexandre Katuszynski (alexandre Katuszynski)
  • Bilos Mantho sur flickrBilos Mantho (BILOS.)
  • carlrug sur flickrcarlrug
  • col_price sur flickrcol_price
  • darbians sur flickrdarbians (Scott)
  • DARK.style sur flickrDARK.style (DARKstyle)
  • darkstyle pictures sur flickrdarkstyle pictures (DARKstyle pictures)
  • FXXK-U sur flickrFXXK-U (1 1)
  • jasmarsh1 sur flickrjasmarsh1
  • lataeugene sur flickrlataeugene (Eugene Lata)
  • Max et ses friches sur flickrMax et ses friches (Maxime B)
  • Oliver Jerneizig sur flickrOliver Jerneizig
  • OwenGT3 sur flickrOwenGT3 (Owen Wright)
  • TanieBlue sur flickrTanieBlue (Tanie Blue)
  • Whitney Lake sur flickrWhitney Lake (Whitney Lake)
  • wsxieximing sur flickrwsxieximing (xie ximing)
  • www.MatthewHampshire.com sur flickrwww.MatthewHampshire.com
  • www.nicolabertellotti.com sur flickrwww.nicolabertellotti.com (Nicola Bertellotti)
  • Zesk MF sur flickrZesk MF
comments
  • www.MatthewHampshire.com sur flickrwww.MatthewHampshire.com -
    awesome building. love the warm tones
  • darbians sur flickrdarbians (Scott) -
    Awesome stuff. I think I found this during some research, sadly its a bit far from me.

Location

World map
patriarchat of ConstantinopleİstanbulTürkiye (Turkey) Flag Turkey

Metadata

You can also view metadata statistics graphically.

Photo albums

View all albums as cover photo or as simple text links

Articles

2 tags

English translation

You have asked to visit this site in English. For now, only the interface is translated, but not all the content yet.

If you want to help me in translations, your contribution is welcome. All you need to do is register on the site, and send me a message asking me to add you to the group of translators, which will give you the opportunity to translate the pages you want. A link at the bottom of each translated page indicates that you are the translator, and has a link to your profile.

Thank you in advance.

Document created the 31/01/2014, last modified the 20/07/2020
Source of the printed document:https://www.gaudry.be/en/photos/set-istanbul/026563826012262481504114.html

The infobrol is a personal site whose content is my sole responsibility. The text is available under CreativeCommons license (BY-NC-SA). The photos are under Creative Commons license (BY-NC-ND).More info on the terms of use and the author.

No cache version.

Caching disabled. Default setting for this page:enabled (code LNG204)
If the display is too slow, you can disable the user mode to view the cached version.