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Yerebatan Sarayi

Does anybody know the dates The Basilica Cistern will reopen to the public?

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697 posts

I am not sure that anyone knows. I suspect it will be closed for at least another year or two. My only point of reference is that the Rustem Pasha Mosque, which reopened last fall after extensive renovation, was closed for five years from 2016-2021. Our guide told us in November that they started restoration on a number of sites, including the Basilica Cistern, while tourism was down during Covid in 2020. Actually, I was planning to visit the Basilica Cistern in March 2020, and I was reading that they had already drained all the water even though the cistern was still open to the public, and so the work might have started shortly before Covid.