Basilica Cistern

The Basilica Cistern is a vast underground chamber featuring three hundred thirty-six marble columns that rise directly from the water. Commissioned by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian the First in the sixth century, this structure was built to store eighty thousand cubic meters of water for the Great Palace and the surrounding district. Engineers connected it to a network of aqueducts reaching as far as the Belgrade Forest to ensure the city remained supplied during droughts or sieges.