Basilica Cistern

The man in front of us in line had on "Blue Suede Shoes".

There are two Medusa head columns, one head is turned sideways and one is upside down, to negate the Gorgon's gaze. 

Hen's Eye Column, ancient texts state the reason for the tears is to memorialize the hundreds of slaves who died during the construction of the cistern.  

The cathedral sized cistern, 453 ft x 212 ft, 105,000 sq ft capable of holding 2,800,000 cu ft of water, was built in the 6th century during the reign of Justinian I.  The ceiling is held up by 336 marble Ionic, Corinthian and Doric columns which were likely recycled from ruins of older buildings and brought to Constantinople from throughout the empire.  The cistern has featured in movies, novels and video games.

Sad note, this is just across the street from the police station,where just days after we visited there was a terrorist attack which killed a police officer.  We pray for his family and friends in their great loss.  We felt safe and welcome in Istanbul.