THE BASILICA CISTERN

When you enter at street level, and descend the 50 odd stone steps below ground into the Basilica Cistern, you can't help but be amazed. It was built in the 6th century to store water for the Great Palace and other buildings around it. It contains 336 marble columns, including 2 columns supported by upside down Medusa heads. Legend has it that one head was placed upside down, and the other on her side, to negate her powers. When the cistern was in use, it held 100,000 tons of water delivered through 20km of aqueducts. It was eventually closed and forgotten, then rediscovered in the 1500's.