It was our second-last day in Turkiye. We had seen all on our to-do list for Istanbul. Except Basilica Cistern. The queues were intimidating. But how could we not see it. Made enquiries. Having already strained his knees, Sudhir chickened out at the proposition of walking down (no lift 😖). So we bought "Skip the line" ticket tour paying 20% extra ( only for me) for the next day, May 19th, which was also our last day in Istanbul. Many logistics had to be taken care of ... check-out at the hotel, arrange taxi to airport, but we managed to reach the site at 9 am only to realize that the regular queue required only 10 minutes extra. My ticket ( hefty entrance ticket with the added premium) allowed me to save those 10 minutes 😐 and I entered immediately, armed with a selfie stick for photographs.
To the movie buffs: the photographs might look familiar ... this cistern has featured in a number of Hollywood movies: The Inferno, From Russia with Love, The International to name a few.
When I entered Basilica Cistern, the sheer size of this place hit me. Imagine an area larger than a football field, sunk 10m underground, with a roof supported by 336 symmetrically places columns ( did all Romans have OCD?). Then imagine it being filled with 80,000 tonnes of water ... all this in 550AD for the population of the bustling metropolitan city of Istanbul.
Istanbul was strategically a very important region due to control on the Bosphorus strait that allowed access to Black Sea countries and also being on the ancient Silk Route. It was the capital of eastern half of the Roman Empire, made rich by the tax and toll, but did not have natural water resources for its ever increasing population. The way out was getting water from far regions using aqueducts (still well preserved in Istanbul).
Many underground cisterns were built to store the extra water for
summer months and emergencies ( read: besieged by enemy forces). Basilica Cistern is one of the many in Istanbul that are open to tourists.
Basilica Cistern was built by Byzantian Emperor Justinian I in the 6th
century BC. It fell into disuse during Ottoman period (post 1400 AD, they liked running water), was later rediscovered by a Dutch visitor. It has been restored recently as a fine example of
Byzantian architecture (and pragmatism).
Most of the columns are plain marble, spoliated from older Roman and Greek structures. Two particularly striking columns are propped on huge marble Medusa heads, one upside down and the other lying sideways.
Medusa was a Greek goddess with snakes for hair and was considered a dangerous one since just seeing her could petrify people. The positioning of the heads could be to petrify Medusa herself ( she looks at her image in the water 😃). People still put Medusa heads at the entrance of their homes to protect it from evil-eye.
The dark interiors with strategic lighting makes the place look very mysterious. Adds to the allure of the place. Happy that I could visit this beautiful place.
And Sudhir insisted on singing a song --- Rashmiiii, tum basilica ko dekho, aur main tumhe dekhte hue dekhoon (photo mein :-)).
Subscribe by Email
Follow Updates Articles from This Blog via Email
No Comments