A magical trip to the Basilica Cistern in Sultanahmet Square in Istanbul

The Public Relations and Publicity Department students visited the place known as the Basilica Cistern, built by the Byzantine Empire, in order to recognize the history of Istanbul . Şeval Topçu and Seray Özyıldırım , who were on the tour team , emphasized the richness of Ancient Greek and Byzantine culture. Our students' experiences with the trip are as follows:

“It was quite easy to get to Sultanahmet, where the cistern was by taking the tram from Cevizlibağ. It is possible to reach the museum entrance after a five-minute walk. Since there are many cafeterias, a crowd welcomes you at the door. After getting over the crowd, it is possible to enter for a small fee of 5 TRY. When you enter, you will be greeted by a dimly lit atmosphere and a damp smell. When you enter the cistern, you can see that tourists seem to have a great interest. The Basilica Cistern is in the south of Hagia Sophia and it was built in 542 AD by the Byzantine Empire. The reason for calling it a basilica was the fact that a basilica had already appeared at the site of the cistern. The cistern has a rectangular structure with a length of 140m and a width of 70m. It has 360 columns and each of these columns has different features. The most interesting part is that the cistern has approximately 100,000 tons of water storage capacity. The two Medusa heads used under the two columns in the northwest corner of the cistern are examples of sculpture from the Roman period. It is interesting to note that the origin of the Medusa heads is not known, but it has been the subject of legends. There are two kinds of rumors about Medusa. The first of these is that the Medusa is one of the female monsters of the underworld. Snake-headed Medusa was able to turn those who looked her into stone. At that time, Gogana statues were used to protect private places. That was the reason why Medusa was placed in the cistern. According to another rumor, Medusa was a woman with long hair and black eye. Zeus'son of Perseus fell in love with Medusa. Meanwhile, Athena loved Perseus and was very jealous of Medusa. Athena turned her hair to snake. Medusa was now able to turn everyone she looks at into stone. Rumor has it that Perseus managed to defeat many enemies by taking advantage of Medusa's head. It is known that during the Byzantine period, the cistern was used for the irrigation of people and palaces in the Ottoman period. If you would like to visit the Basilica Cistern, we would like you to know that you can have a pleasant tour with a slow music between the columns.”