Justinian the Great would have been proud.
The Basilica Cistern he built for the capital of his Eastern Roman Empire in elegant Istanbul has reopened after a five-year renovation that remodeled the water garage into a refreshing haven of sound and underground light.
Built in 542 AD near the Hagia Sophia Mosque, then a cathedral, the basilica was once part of a network of over a hundred cisterns that began with the Romans and ended with the Byzantines and Ottomans to supply the city and its palaces with running water.
Known in Turkey as Yerebatan Sarnici (“the cistern buried underground”), their rows of water-soaked columns stood out on the big screen when they appeared in a scene from the 1963 James Bond film “From Russia with Love. “
But the city had to partially shut down the recovery in 2017, fearing the basilica would collapse if the slightest earthquake shook Istanbul.
It has been absolutely closed since the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, allowing staff to clean and clean the water palace from 138 meters to 65 meters (453 to 213 feet), said Aysen Kaya, deputy director of the municipality’s heritage department.
The steel rods were stretched on the cornices of the 336 columns that support the underground roof, in 12 rows of 28.
Pink brick walls have also been stripped of the lines of the past, less sublime renovation efforts.
“By scraping the extra layers of cement, we upgraded the bricks,” Kaya said. He pointed to two pipes discovered through the most recent works: one that carried water to Hagia Sophia and the other to a palace that was there before. the sultans built the Harem of Topkapi next door.
The Basilica Cistern can only store about 80,000 liters (21,000 gallons) of water, which cascaded into mountain aqueducts 19 kilometers to the north.
The feat helped the Byzantines out of the summer drought.
Jellyfish upside down
The renovation also includes a lower walkway over the water, bringing tourists within half a meter of its surface. And thanks to advanced lighting, the floor is now visual for the first time.
Beyond structural replacements, the basilica has been imbued with a mystical, almost non-secular atmosphere, with colorful lighting fixtures that replace people’s perspectives and reveal new details.
A famous Medusa head adorning two of the corner pillars, carved, according to legend, upside down so as not to turn other people watching it into stone, now looks even brighter and scarier.
In the center of the 1500-year-old structure, a triumph of art and its time, fashionable works have been inserted to achieve an additional effect, such as a grasping hand emerging from the water.
An art of translucent jellyfish almost turns out to dance between the columns, illuminated through the rainbow of colors that illuminate the dark corridor with a soft glow.
“We are looking for a soft installation that does not stray from the mystical environment of the place,” Kaya said.
The line of tourists that meanders in front of the cistern under the warm Istanbul sun testifies to the good fortune of the restoration.
“Absolutely amazing. I mean, completely unique,” said Nick Alatti, a 40-year-old British guest who strives to express his amazement with words.
“I’ve never noticed a position like this before, ever. And he will do it with me for a long time. “–AFP