As a tour guide, one of the topics I enjoy talking about the most is Istanbul’s cisterns. Because this city fascinates not only with what stands above ground, but also with the silent history hidden beneath it. 💧
There is no other city in the world with as many cisterns as Istanbul. Research shows that more than 400 cisterns were built here. The main reason is that Istanbul has been besieged countless times throughout history.
In the ancient and medieval world, one of the most effective ways to capture a city was to cut off its water supply. The Romans and Byzantines were well aware of this reality. To prevent the city from running dry, they built hundreds of underground cisterns to collect and store rainwater.
These structures were not merely functional—they were also architectural and artistic masterpieces.
When you descend into a cistern, the view is striking:
Marble columns, Corinthian capitals, perfect proportions…
It feels less like a water reservoir and more like a palace built underground.
Many of these columns were reused from destroyed pagan temples of antiquity. That means when you walk through a cistern today, you are literally touching stones that once belonged to ancient temples. This perfectly reflects Istanbul’s unique, layered history.
For centuries, cisterns kept the city alive, witnessing wars, sieges, and earthquakes. Today, they rest quietly beneath the streets, whispering a different story to every visitor.
To truly understand Istanbul, walking its streets is not enough. Sometimes, you need to take a few steps downward… because part of this city’s soul lies underground.
