After five years of heavy work intended to protect it from the next earthquake, regularly promised to the city, this unmissable stage in history on the banks of the Bosphorus has been transformed into a spectacular sound and light stage which reveals the immensity of the places (138 m long by 65 wide).
Built in 542, the cistern-basilica of Justinian was part of a network of more than a hundred others begun by the Romans, pursued by the Byzantines and then by the Ottomans to supply the city and their palaces with running water.
Known in Istanbul by its Turkish name of Yerebatan Sarn?c? (the cistern buried underground), the underground basilica which had hosted James Bond (“Bons Baisers de Russie”) threatened to collapse at the slightest violent jolt, explains Aysen Kaya, deputy director of Heritage at the municipality of ‘Istanbul.
It was therefore urgent to strengthen its infrastructure while cleaning it up.
It has remained first partially closed since 2017, then completely since the Covid outbreak in 2020.
Steel rods were stretched to link together the capitals of the building’s 336 columns – twelve rows of 28.
The pink brick walls have been cleared of traces left by several untimely interventions.
“By scraping the added layers of cement, we brought the bricks up to date,” continues Aysen Kaya, who points out two pipes revealed by the works and hitherto ignored: one brought water to the Basilica of Saint- Sophie very close, the other in the Byzantine palace which preceded the Topkapi of the sultans.
The cistern was capable of storing nearly 80,000 liters of fresh water arriving from the mountains 19 km to the north. A feat to guarantee Byzantium against summer droughts.
– Jellyfish upside down –
The refurbishment has also made it possible to dismantle the previous footbridge fitted out for visitors at 1.60 m above the ground to bring the wandering to less than 50 cm above the pavements, made visible for the first time under water.
But beyond the technical arrangements necessary to safeguard the building, the renovation endeavored to protect the mystical, almost spiritual character of the place by a play of lights which modifies the perspectives and reveals the details.
The famous heads of Medusa that adorn two of the corner pillars – carved upside down so as not to turn the visitor looking at them to stone, according to the legend of the Odyssey – appear even more vivid and terrifying.
And at the heart of this 1,500-year-old construction, representative of the art and techniques of the time, contemporary works have been placed, such as this hand emerging from the water, these translucent glass jellyfish and these light projections. who dance on the columns.
“We wanted a light installation that takes nothing away from the mystical atmosphere of the place”, justifies the representative of the municipality.
To see the success that surrounds this reopening and the long queues under the sun to enter this fitted semi-darkness, the bet is successful.
Witness Nick Alatti, a 40-year-old from Birmingham who struggles to find the words to match his enthusiasm: “Absolutely incredible, truly unique. I’ve never seen anything like it and I’m not about to forget it”, he confides.
