This weekend I watched a very suspenseful film (thriller, adventure, mystery) on TV, the adaptation of Dan Brown's novel "Inferno", which, unlike some of the previous adaptations I watched, I did not read.
And that's why it was very interesting for me to follow the action and the locations where the professor Robert Langdon moves.
Towards the end of the film, I watched the final battle between the two sides, good and evil.
The fateful fight, one good side fighting for salvation and the other, evil, wanting extermination, took place in a very strange space (familiar to me, but almost unrecognizable).
The pillared room, it reminded me of one I had been in before.
But in the movie, that room is fully lit, with an orchestra playing beautiful classical music, and has a lot more water in it than I remember.
And I remember her as dark, mystical and a little scary.
Basilica Cistern
In the strict center of Istanbul across from Sultan Ahmet Park, which separates two impressive buildings, Aya Sofia and Sultan Ahmet Mosque, there is an invisible attraction at first glance.
The small building where tickets are bought is the entrance to the building, which is located 10-12m below street level.
It is a room with 336 columns, which carry the ceiling and represents the space where water was stored for the Palace of Constantinople (80,000 m³ of water was stored in this large cistern).
It was built by Emperor Justinian I in the 6th century, transferring columns from various locations where there were ruined ancient buildings, mostly those belonging to old Rome.
The height of the cistern is an impressive 9 meters and today there is very little water in it. The water level is deliberately kept low, so that visitors can see the bases of the pillars. The most famous column bases are the two Medusa heads, which I have not been able to find.
After entering the darkness of the cistern, after a few minutes, my eyes got used to the complete darkness and when I found myself on the walking platforms, I was able to orient myself so that I could walk between these pillars.
However, I have not been able to find those pillars that have the shape of a Medusa for their bases.
Actually, I found one, but I didn't take a good picture of it.
That's why I photographed another square-shaped one.
The camera was in night mode, but in vain, there was so little light that you could see almost nothing in the video and in the photos, until I turned on the flash.
However, a strong flash of the flash in complete darkness, although it pulls out the situation and provides such a photo, is very annoying to the eyes. That's why I clicked into the space without flash and saved photos for myself in the archive, for which I think the #SpookyZone community is ideal.
A little mystical, a little creepy, photographed in the dark, while on the recording you can hear ambient quiet, gentle music and the sound of water...
And in the movie, this tank didn't look like that. Even though the film seems real to me, at least those shots where there is no chase and fight, there is much more water in the cistern, so it is clear that some of the scenes were shot in the cistern and some in the studio.
I don't know if the scene with the very recognizable column with tears, which is constantly wet and therefore has a patina on its surface, was filmed in the cistern or in the studio, but actually this column is a confirmation that I was in the cistern, because I have a photo of it, where you can clearly see what is at stake.
And I have to admit that watching the movie "Inferno" disappointed me, because I realized that I didn't visit this location properly and I believe that in some future time, I will visit Istanbul and the big cistern again, when it will be a little less spooky. In order to leave a clue for myself for next time, but also for all curious Hive passengers, I'm putting a pin in #worldmappin that can be a guide out of the darkness, if you find yourself in a cistern in the same environment as me.
