Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
they opened the casket and found the Orthodox formula upon
her heart and that of the Monophysites lying under her feet, thus
bringing victory to the Orthodox party. The martyrium is elaborately
decorated with paintings in fresco, representing scenes from the
life and especially the gaudy martyrdom of St. Euphemia, and a
striking picture of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste; these are preserved in
rather bad condition under a shed beside the Law Courts. They were
at first ascribed to the ninth century but the latest study places them
in the late thirteenth. Unfortunately, the shed covering the frescoes
is closed permanently and the paintings can no longer be seen by
the public.
THE BİNBİRDİREK CISTERN
Once past these ruins we take the first left of Divan Yolu, and a
short way along on the right we come to the entrance to the ancient
cistern known as Binbirdirek, “the Thousand and One Columns”.
The cistern was restored in the years 1995-2002 and is now open
as a tourist attraction. Unfortunately the restoration was badly done
and what was once an awesome and romantic site has now lost its
historical identity; nevertheless it is still very interesting.
The dimensions of the cistern are 64 by 56.4 metres or 3,610
square metres; thus it is the second largest covered cistern in the city,
though with only a third the area of Yerebatan Saray. It is thought
that the cistern was originally built in the second quarter of the
fourth century by Philoxenus, a Roman senator who came to the city
with Constantine the Great, although there is evidence that some of
the structure at least dates to the fifth or sixth centuries. During the
nineteenth century the cistern was used as a spinning-mill and more
recently as a storehouse.
The cistern was originally about 19 metres high from the floor to
the top of the little brick domes in herringbone design. The columns
are in two tiers bound together by curious stone ties. There were
originally 224 double columns in 16 rows of 14 each, but 12 of
these were walled in not long after the cistern was completed. The
impost capitals are plain except that some of them are inscribed with
monograms of the stone masons.
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