Basilica Cistern Stories

The full history of the Basilica Cistern - built by Justinian in 532, lost for centuries, rediscovered by a Dutch scholar and restored for today's visitors.

How Constantinople's aqueducts and cisterns worked - the system that fed the Basilica Cistern and kept a city of half a million supplied through sieges.

Istanbul hides hundreds of Byzantine cisterns. Which ones you can visit - Şerefiye, Binbirdirek and more - and why the Basilica Cistern is the star.

The story behind the Basilica Cistern's names - Yerebatan Sarayı, Yerebatan Sarnıcı and the Sunken Palace - and what the "sunken" really meant.

From James Bond's boat scene in From Russia with Love to Inferno's climax - every film and game that shot inside the Basilica Cistern.

What the five-year restoration did to the Basilica Cistern - new walkways, seismic reinforcement, the lighting programme and the Night Shift it enabled.