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TurkeyWhat to Expect and Is It Worth Visiting
Basilica Cistern, or Arasında Yerebatan Saray - a monumental ancient structure to ensure the life of the city, a reservoir of drinking water. Built in 532. It is a giant underground storage 145 meters long and 65 meters wide, which could store approximately 100,000 tons of water. Since 1987, it has not performed its functions, it is a museum. Definitely worth a visit, but best with guided tours, an individual guide or an audio guide (in English), which are offered for 5 lira at the entrance. Also at the entrance, when buying a ticket, you can take a booklet with information in English.
🌐 Website: https://www.yerebatan.com/en
🕐 Working hours
09:00-17: 30 seven days a week.
💵 Entrance fee / ticket price
190 lire (4.06 USD, see Turkish currency and exchange rate), children under 8 years old free of charge. Only cash is accepted for payment.
🚶 How to get there
located in the historic Sultanahmet district at Yerebatan Cd. 1/3 (Basilica Cistern on the map). From Sultanahmet district/Fatih can be reached on foot. From Beyoglu district by tram T1 (stop nearby); Metro Line M2 to Vezneciler station and walk 1 kilometer; buses 80T, 70KY, 74A, taxis 22 and 23 and walk 1-2 kilometers. From the Asian part and Kadikoy district by the Marmaray city train. On the tourist bus Big Bus Istanbul get off at the Stop number 1/20.
Without a story about history, visiting this attraction is not so interesting, so if you understand English, take an audio guide at the entrance (attention! At the end of 2019, there were no audio guides), and even better, a tour in Russian. You can find and buy online Russian-language tours of Istanbul on one of these trusted sites:
Itoria Cistern Of The Basilica
The Basilica Cistern was built in 532 on the initiative of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. This is not the only Reservoir in the city, there are more than 40 of them, but it is the largest. Water was supplied to it by a 20-kilometer aqueduct from a fresh lake near the Black Sea.
But after the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks in the XIV century, it was abandoned and forgotten until the XVI century, when it was again discovered by a local seeker of Antiquities. But even after that, the tank was also not used for its intended purpose, and all garbage, including corpses, was dumped there. Only at the end of the XX century the building was cleaned and the museum was equipped.
The ceiling of the cistern is supported by 336 columns 8 meters high, and interestingly, many of them are carved in stone, almost works of ancient art. It is believed that the columns were brought here from different places in this form, and presumably some were part of other, more ancient architectural monuments. The most interesting are 2 columns, at the base of which are two heads of Medusa Gorgon. The walls of the reservoir are 4 meters thick, made of refractory bricks and covered with a special waterproofing solution.