Tekir ambarı

36.37555555555633.921388888889Koordinaten: 36 ° 22 '32 "N, 33 ° 55' 17 " O

The cistern of Silifke ( Turkish Tekir Ambari ) is located southwest of the center of the county town Silifke in the Turkish province of Mersin, in the historical landscape of Cilicia. It lies at the foot of the eastern slope of the castle hill of the citadel of Silifke, about 400 meters distance from the fort and 800 meters west of the Roman temple.

Description

Built in the early Byzantine period cistern is carved on a terrace of the mountainside in the rocks. It is rectangular, the east-west - directed long sides measure 46 meters, the narrow sides of 23 meters, the depth of the structure is about 12 meters. The side walls forming arches of ashlar masonry, eight on the long and five on the short sides. Bright Kemper and Hild describe remnants of bricks on the walls. They also found approaches for bows to freestanding columns in the interior, which were either planned or were dismantled as spoils. From this they conclude that a roof of the cistern was at least planned. The inflow was located in the north- west. There is a still walk spiral staircase that leads into the interior on the east side.

Mentions

The British Captain Francis Beaufort, who explored the Cilician coast on behalf of the Admiralty in the years 1811-12, the cistern mentioned in his report, he has also describes a ceiling structure. Even the French traveler Victor Langlois describes the building in its 1861 published travelogue of the Cilician coast. Friedrich Hild and Hans Gerd Helle Kemper visited the place in 1969, 1975 and 1985 and also gave a description of the cistern.

Entry to the stairs

View from Castle Hill, front right the cistern