The Cistern of Philoxenos , or Binbirdirek Cistern, is a man-made subterranean reservoir in Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

, situated between the Forum of Constantine

Forum of Constantine

The Forum of Constantine was built at the foundation of Constantinople immediately outside of the old city walls of Byzantium. It was circular in shape and had two monumental gates to the east and west...

 and the Hippodrome of Constantinople

Hippodrome of Constantinople

The Hippodrome of Constantinople was a circus that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire. Today it is a square named Sultanahmet Meydanı in the Turkish city of Istanbul, with only a few fragments of the original structure surviving...

 in the Sultanahmet district. It has been restored and is now visited as a tourist attraction.

Construction

The cistern was constructed under a palace, often identified as the Palace of Antiochos

Palace of Antiochos

The Palace of Antiochos was an early 5th-century palace in the Byzantine capital, Constantinople . It has been identified with a palatial structure excavated in the 1940s and 1950s close to the Hippodrome of Constantinople, some of whose remains are still visible today...

 in the 5th century. The reservoir has a surface area of 3640 m², storing 40,000 m³ of water. The cistern is composed of a large hypostyle

Hypostyle

In architecture, a hypostyle hall has a roof which is supported by columns, as in the Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak. The word hypostyle comes from the Ancient Greek hypóstȳlos meaning "under columns"...

 chamber supported by vaults. The 224 columns, each 14 to 15 meters tall, are made of marble

Marble

Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...

 from nearby Marmara Island

Marmara Island

Marmara is a Turkish island in the Sea of Marmara. It is the largest island in the Sea of Marmara that is the center of Marmara district in Balıkesir Province...

. Each column is a superposition of two columns, joined by a marble ring. The floor of the cistern was later reinforced, so that only the upper column and a short sleeve of the lower column are thus visible. A part of the original exterior is now preserved on display near the entrance. Most of the columns, and also the caps, are engraved with a Greek mason's mark

Mason's mark

A mason's mark is a symbol often found on dressed stone in buildings and other public structures.-In stonemasonry:Scottish rules issued in 1598 stated that on admission to the guild, every mason had to enter his name and his mark in a register....

.

Restoration

The cistern was restored by Justinian I

Justinian I

Justinian I ; , ; 483– 13 or 14 November 565), commonly known as Justinian the Great, was Byzantine Emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the Empire's greatness and reconquer the lost western half of the classical Roman Empire.One of the most important figures of...

 in the 6th century, after the palace was completely destroyed in a fire in 475. After the conquest of the city

Fall of Constantinople

The Fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which occurred after a siege by the Ottoman Empire, under the command of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, against the defending army commanded by Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI...

 by the Ottomans in 1453, the cistern fell into disuse, and was forgotten until rediscovered during the construction of Fazli Pasha's palace on the same site in the 17th century.

1001 columns

The name Binbirdirek translates from Turkish

Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...

 as "1001 Columns" although the true number is only 224.

Sources

• Alexander Kazhdan (éd.), The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, 3 vols., Oxford University Press, 1991 (ISBN 0195046528), s. v. Constantinople, Monuments of : Cisterns, vol. 1, 518-519 ;
• (German) Wolfgang Müller-Wiener, Bildlexikon Zur Topographie Istanbuls: Byzantion, Konstantinupolis, Istanbul Bis Zum Beginn D. 17 Jh, Wasmuth, Tübingen, 1977 (ISBN 3-8030-1022-5), 280-281.

See also

• List of Roman cisterns
• Basilica Cistern
  Basilica Cistern
  The Basilica Cistern , is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that lie beneath the city of Istanbul , Turkey...
  
   (Istanbul)
• Theodosius Cistern
  Theodosius Cistern
  The Theodosius Cistern is one of many ancient cisterns of Constantinople that lie beneath the city of Istanbul, Turkey. The modern entrance is in Piyer Loti Caddesi, Fatih....
  
  (Istanbul)