Aqueduct that bring life to the City

Istanbul has always been a city associated with and shaped by, water. The beauty of the Bosphorus, which makes Istanbul one of a kind, merges with the beauty of the Black Sea and Marmara coasts. But despite this, Istanbul has always had a drinking water problem needing to be solved. Various solutions found by earlier residents of our city have left us, the current citizens some artifacts to admire. As well as amazing cisterns, aqueducts which are masterpieces of engineering and architecture, you can trace water everywhere in Istanbul through the myriad of fountains, water tanks, and hamams.

No one can miss the striking reminder of how the Romans brought water to their capital, as today it soars above what is now Atatürk Bulvarı on the western edge of the old city with traffic hurtling beneath it. The Aqueduct of Valens was part of a complex system used to bring water into town from lakes beyond the walls.

Known as Bozdogan Kemer (Bozdogan Aqueduct) in Turkish, this kilometer-long aqueduct, of which about 800 meters still survive, was built by the Roman Emperor Valens in 375, almost certainly on the site of an older version.

It was created out of stones taken from the walls of Chalcedon that had been demolished after the locals rose up in support of Procopius, the cousin of Emperor Julian, against Emperor Valens in 365. For much of its length, it features a double tier of arches that stand 18.5 meters high.

Impressive as the aqueduct is, it is just one of the more dramatic reminders of a hugely complex system that used to bring water from lakes outside the walls into the town center. The water is believed to have been brought to Edirnekapı in an underground pipe and then channeled along the ridges of the sixth, fifth and fourth hills before being carried across the valley between the third and fourth hills by the aqueduct. It ended up in the Nymphaeum Maximum (the Great Fountain), a cistern close to Beyazit Square, the precise site of which is no longer known.

During the last days of Byzantium, it fell into disrepair as a shrinking population reduced the quantity of water the city required. But the Ottomans repaired and maintained it, and it continued to be used right through to the 19th century, hence its current surprisingly good condition.