Basilica Cistern | Biivip

The best friend of tea on the ferry, simit, fish and bread that comes to mind when Eminönü is mentioned, chestnut kebab, which is indispensable for winter months, milk corn that you can come across in every corner with its both roasted and boiled, donut dessert with a pinch of cinnamon. Street flavors of Istanbul are not just a part of today's lifestyle. It is known that similar images were experienced on the streets of Istanbul in the past. Having articles on traditional Turkish and Ottoman culinary culture, Prof. Dr. Artun Ünsal also gives information about street vendors in the Ottoman Empire in an article about traditional bazaar cuisine, and touches upon the writings of American travel writer Francis Marion Cravvford, who came to Istanbul in the 1890s. According to this; In Istanbul of the 1890s, there were "food and beverage vendors carrying their straw trays up and down the crowd". The author lists these vendors as follows: Those who sell bread, pita and rusks, several kinds of cheese on a round table, as well as yoghurt, kebab consisting of lamb and mutton pieces grilled on wooden skewers, and rice kept warm in a large pot, or cooks selling stuffed zucchini and other vegetables. , confectionery sellers, pudding shops and sherbet sellers. The American writer admires the quality of these products sold on the streets, “…the extreme cleanliness of all these peddlers selling food and drink, and the truly appetizing appearance of what they sell.” he tells. Street vendors still continue to color the streets of Istanbul. One of the magnificent historical structures of Istanbul is the Basilica Cistern, located in the southwest of Hagia Sophia.

This large underground cistern, built by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I (527-565), was called the "Basilica Palace" among the people because of the marble columns rising from the water and appearing as innumerable. It is also known as the Basilica Cistern because there was a Basilica in the place where the cistern is located.

The cistern is a giant structure covering a rectangular area of ​​140 meters in length and 70 meters in width. Covering a total area of ​​9,800 m2, this cistern has a water storage capacity of approximately 100,000 tons. There are 336 columns, each 9 meters high, inside this cistern, which is descended by a 52-step stone staircase. These columns, erected at intervals of 4.80 meters from each other, form 12 rows of 28 columns each. Most of the columns, most of which are understood to have been collected from older buildings and carved from various types of marble, consist of one piece and some of them are made of two pieces. The headings of these columns have different features from place to place. While 98 of them reflect the Corinthian style, some of them reflect the Doric style. Most of the columns in the cistern are cylindrical except for a few that are angular or grooved. Since the 8 columns in front of the northeast wall towards the middle of the cistern were exposed to the danger of breaking during a construction in 1955-1960, each of them was frozen in a thick concrete layer and therefore lost its old characteristics. The ceiling space of the cistern was transferred to the columns by means of arches. The 4.80-meter-thick brick walls and the brick-tiled floor of the cistern were plastered with a thick layer of Khorasan mortar and made watertight.

The Basilica Cistern, which covered a large area in this area during the Byzantine period and met the water needs of the great palace where the emperors resided and other residents in the region, was used for a while after the conquest of Istanbul by the Ottomans in 1453 and water was supplied to the gardens of Topkapi Palace, where the sultans lived.

The cistern has undergone various repairs since its establishment. The cistern, which was repaired twice during the Ottoman Empire Period, was first repaired by Architect Mehmet Ağa from Kayseri during the reign of Ahmet III (1723). The second repair was carried out during the reign of Sultan Abdulhamid II (1876-1909). In the Republican Period, the cistern was opened to visitors after being cleaned by the Istanbul Municipality in 1987 and a sightseeing platform was built. In May 1994, it went through a major cleaning and maintenance again.

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