Basilica Cistern

The Basilica Cistern  is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns under the city of Istanbul (formerly Constantinople), Turkey. The cistern, is close to the Hagia Sophia.

 History 
Emperor Justinian I commissioned his city prefect Longinus to build it.The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian, ed. Michael Maas (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005), p. 68 It was completed in 532, after the Nika riots. As many as 7,000 slaves worked to build the cistern.

The large cistern provided a water source for the emperor's palace. Sometime before the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453 the cistern was closed. It was discovered in 1545 by Petrus Gyllius. After that Ottoman city officials used it for dumping waste including corpses.Verity Campbell, Turkey (Footscray (VIC); Oakland, CA: Lonely Planet Publications, 2007), p. 108 It has been restored at least three times. In 1985 it was closed for cleaning again. In 1987 it was opened to the public as a tourist attraction. 2 million tourists visited the Cistern in 2013.

 Size 
The cistern is a huge underground room that measures about  by  It is about  in area. The cistern can hold  of water. The ceiling is supported by 336 marble columns.Pierre Gilles; Kimberly May Byrd, Pierre Gilles' Constantinople: A Modern English Translation with Commentary (New York, NY: Italica Press, 2008), p. 101 Each one is  high.

 Modern Culture 
The cistern was used for a James Bond movie From Russia with Love. Also the 2009 movie The International was shot here. The 2011 video game, Assassin's Creed: Revelations includes scenes from the Basilica Cistern.

 References 

 Other websites 
 Basilica Cistern by Gizemli Kişi
 The Basilica Cistern, the Coolest Spot in Town
 Kerim Bey's Escape Route (Basilica Cistern) 

Category:Buildings and structures in Turkey
Category:6th-century buildings and structures
Category:Byzantine Empire