Basilica Cistern
Appearance
The Basilica Cistern, also called the Yerebatan Sarayi, is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that still lie beneath the city of Istanbul, Turkey.
This cathedral-sized cistern is an underground chamber covering nearly two and a half acres, capable of holding over twenty million gallons of water. The large space is broken up by a forest of 336 marble columns reaching 25 feet in height. Curiously, the base of one of these columns is carved into the head of a medusa.
The cistern was used as a location for the James Bond film From Russia With Love.