The Cistern of a Thousand and One Columns (Binbirdirek)

Istanbul · Turkiet · Historic building

Gevherli Hanım received guests in the bathhouse above — those who lost everything they owned went down into the cistern and never came up.

Istanbul's second largest cistern is called Binbirdirek, a thousand and one columns, though there are two hundred and twenty-four. In the 16th century silk spinners worked down in the half-dark, but the story that lodged in the city's memory was told in a book from 1873. Its central figure is Gevherli Hanım Sultan, daughter of Fazlı Pasha, widow of several pashas and rich enough to do as she pleased. She turned the mansion above the cistern into a bathhouse and a gambling den, and the guests who lost everything they owned went down into the vaults beneath the floor, where nobody went willingly. The tale was read so widely that many townspeople long believed the cistern really had once been a bath. Concerts are held between the columns today, and sound bounces so that nobody can place its source.

FAQ

Where is The Cistern of a Thousand and One Columns (Binbirdirek) located?

The Cistern of a Thousand and One Columns (Binbirdirek) is in Istanbul, Turkiet.

More haunted places in Istanbul