Osmanlı Döneminde Yerebatan Sarnıcı ve Mahallesi

Studies of the restorations of Byzantine structures during the Ottoman period and oftheir placement within the urban fabric have been limited to certain types of buildings;cisterns have not been among them. This study discusses the Ottoman restorations ofthe Basilica Cistern and the neighborhood built upon it. Its main purpose is to identifythe Ottoman restorations carried out in the cistern and to explore the relationship of thestructure to its urban landscape. The neighborhood, including its main street, stables,and palace, became known by the name of the cistern above which they were located,Yerebatan. The cistern’s columns, arches, and vaults supported the ground and provideda flat surface upon which the neighborhood was built. First, the study aims to analyzethe cistern and the neighborhood with the aid of two previously unpublished plans aswell as a cross section of the cistern. Second, it seeks to identify the transformationsin the street pattern, the layout of dwellings along the streets, and the social makeupof the area through the analysis of an 1803 sketch of the neighborhood and an 1874property register. It concludes that the cistern, which became the key component of theground topography in Yerebatan, shaped the neighborhood’s morphology

Political science · Cultural and Sociopolitical Studies · Ottoman and Turkish Studies · Ottoman Empire History and Society