Byzantine Ruins and Cisterns

The Cistern of Theodosius is marked by the row of iron-grated ventilation shafts poking through the street level of the neighborhood. Beneath the pavement, thirty-two marble columns hold up a complex network of vaulted brick arches.…

The Binbirdirek Cistern features two stacked columns in each row, held together by a marble ring, creating a ceiling height double that of similar underground structures in the city. Built in the fourth century, the tank once held eighty…

The Palace of Antiochos appears as a series of heavy, red brick arches embedded into the modern street level of Binbirdirek. Built in the early fifth century by a powerful eunuch serving the imperial court, this structure once served as a…

The Milion stands as a single, weathered marble column fragment near the entrance to the Basilica Cistern. During the fourth century, Emperor Constantine the Great erected this monument to mark the exact center of the Byzantine world. It…

The Basilica Cistern hides beneath the streets of Istanbul as a vast, subterranean reservoir. Three hundred thirty-six marble columns rise from the shallow water in perfectly aligned rows, supporting a forest of brick arches. Emperor…

Sultanahmet Square holds the ancient Hippodrome of Constantinople within its open, rectangular footprint. Its most recognizable feature is the Egyptian Obelisk of Theodosius, a granite monolith covered in hieroglyphs that stands upright on…

The heavy, arched doorway of Nakkaş Rug opens directly into the subterranean cistern of the nineteenth century Nakilbent Pasha Mansion. While the shop floor displays intricate carpets from across Anatolia, the foundation rests on ancient…

The Sphendone is the massive, curved stone retaining wall that holds up the southern end of what used to be the Hippodrome of Constantinople. You can spot it by the way it drops sharply from the street level down into the neighborhood, a…

The Boukoleon Palace features a row of arched stone windows overlooking the Sea of Marmara, remains of the once-grand imperial residence of the Byzantine emperors. During the tenth century, the emperor Theophilos adorned the facade with a…