Bozdoğan Su Kemeri
The Bozdoğan Aqueduct strides across the Fatih district of Istanbul, its arches still spanning Atatürk Boulevard. Emperor Valens raised it in the late fourth century to carry water into Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. Springs many miles away fed the channel, giving the growing city a supply it could count on.
In Turkish the structure answers to Bozdoğan Kemeri, the Aqueduct of the Grey Falcon. It once bridged two hills: Istanbul University sits on one, the Fatih Mosque on the other. Before the mosque rose, that hill carried the Church of the Holy Apostles. Ashlar blocks and bricks make up the fabric, a mix that shows Roman engineering skill. Byzantine and Ottoman rulers repaired and extended the line across the centuries that followed.
From hill to hill the work once stretched past 970 metres. Some 921 of those metres still stand, arch after arch above the traffic. Look up as you cross the boulevard and the fourth century is still overhead.
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