Which 1,500-year-old 'palace' was once abandoned underwater?

The unique 'Palace' was built nearly 1,500 years ago. Archaeologists call it the "Forgotten Underwater Palace".

Yerebatan Cistern (Basilica Cistern) is actually an ancient water tank left underwater in Turkey. This underground cistern is, in Greek, called the "Basilica". Archaeologists today call it the "Forgotten Underwater Palace".

Palace abandoned underwater.

Yerebatan Cistern was built in 532 under the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. This ancient emperor built a cistern to store water for the Great Hall. In 1453, the cistern system was forgotten, when the capital Constantinople fell into the hands of the Ottoman Empire. In 1545, French archaeologist Petrus Gyllius discovered the 'Underwater Palace'.

Yerebatan Cistern was built in the Turkish city of Istanbul. In this city, scientists found hundreds of water tanks, elaborately designed and built, of which the most famous is the Basilica Cistern. Not only an ordinary water reservoir, Basilica Cistern is also known as the 'Wrecked Palace', hidden deep underground, which attracts a lot of tourists when visiting.

Basilica Cistern is a famous tourist attraction in Istanbul.

'Palace' Basilica Cistern is Istanbul's largest water tank with a length of 143m, a width of 70m, containing about 80,000m3. This work is supported by 336 marble columns, creating beautiful domes like the famous cathedral in Europe. Some of the stone pillars are carved with the head of Medusa upside down. Currently, the Basilica Cistern is a famous tourist attraction in Istanbul. To help visitors admire the marble columns, as well as the demon's head, in 1990, the city government installed a wooden platform system on a part of the water area to make a walking area inside the tank. .

Thanks to its ancient, beautiful and magnificent structure, Basilica Cistern is chosen by many directors as a filming location, especially for action and horror films. All three James Bond films (1963), The International (2009) and Brotherhood of Tears (2013) have scenes shot at the Basilica Cistern.