Basilica Cistern

The Basilica Cistern (Turkish: Yerebatan Saray - "Sunken Palace", or Yerebatan Sarnc - "Sunken Cistern"), is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that lie beneath The City of Istanbul (formerly Constantinople), Turkey.

The cistern, located 500 feet (150 m) southwest of the Hagia Sophia on the historical peninsula of Sarayburnu, was built in the 6th century during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. The name of this subterranean structure derives from a large public square on the First Hill of Constantinople, the Stoa Basilica, beneath which it was originally constructed. Before being converted to a cistern, a great Basilica stood in its place, built between the 3rd and 4th centuries during the Early Roman Age as a commercial, legal and artistic centre. The basilica was reconstructed by Ilius after a fire in 476. Ancient texts indicated that the basilica contained gardens, surrounded by a colonnade and facing the Church of Hagia Sophia According to ancient historians, Emperor Constantine built a structure that was later rebuilt and enlarged by Emperor Justinian after the Nika riots of 532, which devastated the city.