The Basilica Cistern was built by emperor Justinian I during the 6th century. There were many Byzantine emperors but among them Constantine I and Justinian I stood out as being extra super awesome, Constantine, during the 4th century AD for founding the Byzantine Empire, establishing Constantinople as its capital, and most importantly for converting the official religion of the empire from polytheistic worship of Roman deities to Christianity.
Justinian ruled during the 6th century AD, and he left his mark on history by reconquering many of the western Roman lands that had been lost to the Roman empire, as well as ushering in a golden age of Byzantine culture, including the completion of the Hagia Sophia. Most notably, he set about consolidating and reforming Roman law, which had once been the structural backbone of the sprawling Roman empire, but that had since been revised and expanded upon so severely that it was impossible to follow and even contradicted itself at times. Justinian's new Corpus Juris Civilus is still the basis of civil law in modern states today.
But anyway. He built a cistern (a cistern is for storing water).
The cistern provided an additional water source for the Great Palace of Constantinople, a sign that the empire and its capital city was flourishing. The water came from Belgrade Forest, 12 miles north of the city, and it was brought to the cistern via the Valens aqueduct, built by an earlier emperor Valens in the 4th century AD. The aqueduct walls, though no longer in use, still exist today, and are passed by thousands of locals each day, as 3 major roads run through its arches. It's also within walking distance from the city center, I'd like to take a look if I have time.
As centuries passed, the cistern fell into disuse and was somehow forgotten. It was accidentally rediscovered by in 1545, when a Frenchman researching Byzantine antiquities in the city noticed that people in the neighborhood not only got a hold of water by simply lowering buckets through holes in their basements, they sometimes even caught fish this way. Upon further investigation, the Basilica Cistern was re-discovered.
Anyway, I think the Basilica Cistern is really cool, both the history of it, and the way that it was rediscovered.
Entry to cistern is 20TL = $7 USD, and there was no line when I went.
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| Isn't this place creepy cool? There isn't a sound of running water per se (the water is mostly standing water, I think), but you can hear water lightly lapping against the walls. The acoustics are crazy, all sounds echo and reverberate around the chamber, and the air is slightly chilly and damp. |
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| I just kept thinking what an awesome Halloween nightclub it would make, especially with a thin centimeter-layer of water covering the floor. |
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| A particularly stunning "teardrop" column. "Ancient texts suggest that the tears on the column pay tribute to the hundreds of slaves who died during the construction of the Basilica Cistern." -Wikipedia Stupid tourists have rubbed a hole into it doing the same thing that you do at the Weeping Column in Hagia Sophia, except this one doesn't even have a chance of performing miracles, so...enjoy the international thumbhole of germs you morons. |
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| There are 336 columns total, most in Ionic and Corinthian styles (I don't know what that means, but in layman's terms I think those are the "pretty" column heads with decoration at the top), and a few in Doric style (plain style with no decoration at the top). You can steal my mnemonic device for remembering this vital information, "boring Doring". Take it! Take my mnemonic device! o_o The columns are actually recycled columns, brought from ruins from all over the empire, hence the different styles. I'm guessing not many Doric columns survived long enough to be recycled because they were just too boring Doring and people smashed them. I want to smash them. So boring. Boring Doring. |
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| Tons of fish swimming around! The cistern can hold thousands of gallons of water, but today is reduced to just a few inches. |
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| Two columns in particular feature these awesome Medusa heads at their base. One is upside down, one is sideways. It's still unknown whether there is any significance to these heads being here, or if they were simply recycled and used as column bases. |
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| If I had to guess I think they brought her here to turn all these columns into stone. |
As beautiful and significant the Hagia Sophia is, I personally found the Basilica Cistern to be cooler. Like literally it was pretty cool in there, I'm glad I brought a scarf.
But no really.
It was pretty cool.
Like I was shivering the whole time.
But no really.
It was cool. I think partially because of the backstory, partially from the creepy, haunted atmosphere, and partially because it had a very understandable and functional purpose. Sure, the Hagia Sophia did too, but I have a harder time getting behind the religious and architectural significance of it, I guess.
Most importantly, there were far less people here and I didn't constantly want to punch someone in the face for getting in my way.
Those are really neat pictures - so wait. Is there water on the floor that you are walking through the whole time, with the fish swimming around? Or is there a walkway that you are on separate from where the water is found? And how do you find your way around if it is dark - are there signs/tour guides/strangers groping their way around (hopefully not on you!)?
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely a place that would be cool to visit.
It's funny to hear you talk about Constantine and the Byzantine Empire. I remember nothing about this, other than the fact that we studied it in Mr. Safine's class. Like, I remember the words, and nothing else.
There's a few feet of water still left in the cistern, and we are walking on like a platform bridge/path that snakes throughout the cistern. The place is dimly lit, it's dark but light enough to make your way around.
DeleteYah before this I knew of the word Byzantine but other than mosaics I didn't know or remember anything about it! Really makes me wonder if I wasted all that time in school. I think maybe I was too young and dumb to really understand what I was learning.