page_title: Belgrad Forest
section_title: Aqueducts
hierarchical_section_title: Belgrad Forest / Aqueducts
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Белградский лес, Стамбул, Турция Türkçe: İstanbul'da Belgrad Ormanı English: Belgrade Forest, Istanbul, Turkey
context_page_description: Belgrad Forest is a mixed deciduous forest lying adjacent to Istanbul, Turkey. It is named after the thousands of Serbs who were deported from the city of Belgrade in 1521 when it fell to the Ottomans. Geographically, the forest is located at the easternmost point of the Thracian Peninsula. Forest terrain is divided between Sarıyer and Eyüp districts. Several historical reservoirs lie within the forest.
context_section_description: Instead of finding many Byzantine remains of aqueducts, there are mainly only Ottoman dams remaining, which were all built over a period of 150 years. The Valens Aqueduct that straddles busy Atatürk Bulvarı as it runs uphill from the Golden Horn is the largest of the monuments commemorating the complex system needed to bring the water into the city during the 16th-18th centuries.
  In the forest there were two separate channeling systems. The older of the two was the Kırkçeşme system that directed water into town Eğrikapı hard against the city walls. Many of the aqueducts and reservoirs that supported this system were originally built in Roman and Byzantine times, but in the 16th century Suleiman the Magnificent commissioned the Ottoman architect Sinan to upgrade it all for the new aqueduct system that would lead into his city. The result was a series of magnificent aqueducts that criss-cross the roads near Kemerburgaz. The Maǧlova Aqueduct is the largest, with its exceptional architecture, strength and structure, and with a little effort is accessible to the public from both ends and can be safely walked through on its lower level. The Kemerburgaz aqueduct can be similarly traversed. The newly restored Uzunkemer still stands right across a busy road in the forest (not traversable).
  As the population of İstanbul grew, the water supply system also had to be expanded to cope with the increasing numbers of people living in the city, which resulted in a second supply line; the Taksim system. Most of its aqueducts and reservoirs were built in the 18th century well after the reconstruction that took place earlier in the 16th century. The most noticeable monument is the Mahmud I Kemer, erected in 1732, that stands right beside the road in Bahçeköy. The Taksim system ended at the large reservoir in Taksim Square that now acts as a small art gallery used for tourism.
caption: One of the many pathways in the forest, a favorite among Istanbulites for jogging and running.
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