One moment
Culture
Basilica Cistern
A landmark that earns the queue · Istanbul, Turkey
Photo: Moise Nicu · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
4.6★Rating
90,782Reviews
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Year-roundBest time
The experience
The largest of the hundreds of ancient cisterns beneath Istanbul, this subterranean reservoir was built in the 6th century under the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. A forest of 336 marble columns rises from the water under dim lighting, and two column bases reuse carved Medusa heads of uncertain origin. It once supplied water to the Great Palace and later Topkapı.
An eerie, softly lit underground forest of columns a minute from the Hagia Sophia.
byzantineatmosphericundergroundhistoric
Where it is
Istanbul, Turkey · Sultanahmet, Fatih. Coordinates from the listing we sourced it from.
DirectionsWhat a membership adds.
Everything above is free: the name, the photo, the rating, the exact spot. What members get is the part you can't Google: the sourced insider tip for this place (what to order, when to go, what to skip), every day of your trips unlocked in full with the insider tip on every researched stop, and the concierge at full strength, answering with your own insider tips, no daily meter.
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