Istanbul (4/6)

 

At the end of May 2002 I had the chance of a short break in Istanbul. This was my first visit to Turkey.

  

 

 

 

 

Further around the coast I found this statue of Ataturk looking out over the water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next day we visited the Basilica Cistern. This was built as an underground water storage reservoir AD 542, about 140m long, 70m wide with a capacity of 100 000 tonnes of water. The ceiling (and that area of the city above!) are supported by 336 columns each 9m high. No longer used for water storage for the city the water level is kept low and fish were introduced in 1994.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The columns are the most noticeable part of the cistern and many are highly decorated and vary considerably in design.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mark and I are standing next one of the most distinctive columns known as the tear column because of the tear drop shaped pattern.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two of the columns have the head of Medusa at the base. The one shown here has the face upside down, the other (not shown) has the face sideways. There is no clear reason why this was done.

 

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