The entrance of the underground (Yerebatan) Cistern, which is the biggest of over sixty cisterns built in Istanbul during the Byzantine Period, is just across from Hagia Sophia Museum. Since there were not enough water sources inside the Byzantine ramparts that surrounded the city, for ages, the water of the city was supplied from the rivers and sources in the Belgrade Forest, which is 25 km. north of Istanbul. During the wars and sieges, as the enemy soldiers used to destroy the ducts bringing water to the city or poison the water, large cisterns were constructed for storing water since the very beginning. Yerebatan Cistern, which was completed in a very short time (only a couple of months) in 532, is the storage where the water was delivered to the city through the Valens Aquaduct, is stored. It was used until the l6ch century. The cistern, which was in use for a short period of time during the Ottoman Period, was restored in the mid 19th century. The cistern, where columns from different Roman structures were used, is 70 m. wide, 140 m. long, with a total sum of 336 columns, which were placed in every 4 m. The total water capacity of the cistern is 80.000 m3 and its height is 8 m. and has around 10.000 m2 surface area. After the restoration work completed in 1987, the cistern was opened for the public visit. The lights and classical music played complete the mystic atmosphere in the cistern. At the very back side, the two Medusa heads, which are used as column bases, are placed side way down whereas the other one is placed upside down. Certain scenes of the James Bond movie named 'From Russia with Love' was filmed in Yerebatan Cistern. (s4)
This vast underground water cistern, a beautiful piece of Byzantine engineering, is the most unusual tourist attraction in the city. Although there may have been an earlier, smaller cistern here, this cavernous vault was laid out under Justinian in 532, mainly to satisfy the growing demands of the Great Palace on the other side of the Hippodrome . For a century alter the conquest , the Ottomans did not know of the cistern's existence. It was rediscovered after people were found to be collecting water, and even fish, by lowering buckets through holes in their basements.
Visitors tread walkways, to the mixed .sounds of classical music and dripping water. The cistern's roof is held up by 336 columns, each over 8 m (26ft) high. Only about two thirds of the original structure is visible today, the rest having been bricked up in the 19th century. In the far left-hand corner two columns rest on Medusa head bases. These bases are evidence of plundering by the Byzantines from earlier monuments. They are thought to mark a nymphaeum, a shrine to the water nymphs. (s1)
The entrance of the underground (Yerebatan) Cistern, which is the biggest of over sixty cisterns built in Istanbul during the Byzantine Period, is just across from Hagia Sophia Museum.