The Column of Constantine (Çemberlitaş)

Istanbul · Turkiet · Stone formation

Noah's staff and the cup of Christ himself are said to be sealed under the fire-blackened column — and whoever drinks never dies.

The column of dark red porphyry was raised by Constantine in 330 and is so scorched by fires that the city calls it the burnt stone. Beneath it, the legend says, is a chamber nobody has opened. There the emperor's mother Helena is said to have had placed what she carried back from Jerusalem: Solomon's seven-branched lampstand, the staff of Noah, the rock Moses struck water from, crumbs of the bread Christ shared, and splinters of the cross with its nails. Among them stands the cup he drank from, and whoever takes a mouthful from it will never die. The story has followed the column for seventeen centuries, and nobody has ever shown what lies below. The column has burned so often that iron bands had to be clamped around its joints to keep it standing.

FAQ

Where is The Column of Constantine (Çemberlitaş) located?

The Column of Constantine (Çemberlitaş) is in Istanbul, Turkiet.

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