The #BasilicaCistern (Turkish: Yerebatan Sarayı - "Sunken Palace" or Yerebatan Sarnıcı - "Sunken Cistern" ), is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that lie beneath the city of #Istanbul (that is formerly #Constantinople), Turkey. The cistern, located 500 feet (150 m) southwest of the Hagia Sophia on the historical peninsula of Sarayburnu, was built in the 6th century during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I.
The cathedral-size #cistern is an underground chamber approximately 9,800 square metres (105,000 sq ft) in area - capable of holding 80,000 cubic metres (2,800,000 cu ft) of water. The ceiling is supported by a forest of 336 marble columns, each 9 metres (30 ft) high, arranged in 12 rows of 28 columns each spaced 4.9 metres (16 ft) apart. The majority of the columns in the cistern appear to have been recycled from the ruins of older buildings (a process called 'spoliation'), likely brought to Constantinople from various parts of the empire, together with those that were used in the construction of Hagia Sophia. They are carved and engraved out of various types of marble and granite.
Located in the northwest corner of the cistern, the bases of two columns reuse blocks carved with the visage of Medusa. The origin of the two heads is unknown, though it is thought that the heads were brought to the cistern after being removed from a building of the late Roman period. Tradition has it that the blocks are oriented sideways and inverted in order to negate the power of the Gorgons' gaze, however it is widely thought that one was placed sideways only to be the proper size to support the column.
The cistern was used as a location for the 1963 James Bond film From Russia with Love. In the film, it is referred to as being constructed by the Emperor Constantine, with no reference to Justinian, and is located under the Soviet (now Russian) consulate. Its real-life location is a considerable distance from the consulate, which is in Beyoğlu, the "newer" European section of Istanbul, on the other side of the Golden Horn. #IstanbulBirthdayBonanza
