Cistern of Pulcheria
The Cistern of Pulcheria is a Byzantine period covered cistern built in Constantinople.
Location
This cistern lay in the eleventh region of Constantinople, at the eastern end of the valley separating the fourth and the fifth hill of the city. The water reservoir has been tentatively identified with the covered cistern located in the north area of Fatih near the Sivasi Tekkesi Mosque, in front of the southern end of the çukurbostan of Sultan Selim, now identified with the cistern of Aspar. The main reason for the identification is the position of the cistern within the quarter named Pulcherianae.History
According to the Chronicon Paschale, a 7th-century Christian chronicle written in Greek and the only ancient source to mention it, the cistern was built by Aelia Pulcheria, who at the time was a construction advisor to her brother, the emperor Theodosius II, and was subsequently the wife of emperor Marcian. The Chronicon reports that it was filled with water for the first time during the Ides of February 421 AD. But based on its stylistic elements, Ernest Mamboury avows that the cistern was built in the 6th century. Unused after the Ottoman conquest of the city, the dry cistern was used by weavers until the beginning of the twentieth century but was then abandoned.The cistern has been restored and it is now a wedding and event location.