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The Theodosius Cistern is one of many ancient cisterns of Constantinople that lie beneath the city of Istanbul. The cistern was built by Roman Emperor Theodosius II (r. 402–450) between 428 and 443 to store water supplied by the Valens Aqueduct. Water from the Aqueduct of Valens was redistributed by the Theodosius Cistern from its original supply to the Nymphaeum, the Baths of Zeuxippus and the Great Palace of Constantinople.
The cistern area is about 20 by 40 m, and the roof with 45 sail vaults is supported by 32 marble columns about 11 m high. All column capitals are of Corinthian order with stylized acanthus leaves bearing impost blocks above. The marble of the columns was brought from Marmara Island. The interior walls of the cistern are covered with waterproof plaster, and its corners are curved to withstand water pressure.
During the Ottoman Empire era, cisterns were not in use because still water was considered as unhealthy. Yet sometime around the late 18th or early 19th century, its existence was completely forgotten after a large private estate was built on the site, which was used by the municipality services from 1912 on, and it lay hidden for many years.
In 2010, the cistern was rediscovered under the building when Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality demolished the annex building. Like the Basilica Cistern and the Binbirdirek Cistern, it is once again open to the public.
References:The Pilgrimage Church of Wies (Wieskirche) is an oval rococo church, designed in the late 1740s by Dominikus Zimmermann. It is located in the foothills of the Alps in the municipality of Steingaden.
The sanctuary of Wies is a pilgrimage church extraordinarily well-preserved in the beautiful setting of an Alpine valley, and is a perfect masterpiece of Rococo art and creative genius, as well as an exceptional testimony to a civilization that has disappeared.
The hamlet of Wies, in 1738, is said to have been the setting of a miracle in which tears were seen on a simple wooden figure of Christ mounted on a column that was no longer venerated by the Premonstratensian monks of the Abbey. A wooden chapel constructed in the fields housed the miraculous statue for some time. However, pilgrims from Germany, Austria, Bohemia, and even Italy became so numerous that the Abbot of the Premonstratensians of Steingaden decided to construct a splendid sanctuary.