Avas Aqueduct to transform into ‘living space’ in Istanbul

ISTANBUL

Istanbul’s Esenler Municipality has launched an initiative to turn the Avas Aqueduct to a “cultural basin,” featuring structures such as a mosque, reading space, dedicated space for children and a museum, aiming to unravel the historical and cultural significance of the structure.

“As a first step, we will construct a water museum. We are going to construct a children's town in addition to the museum,” Esenler Mayor Tevfik Göksu noted. “By bringing water, children, culture and history together, we aim to commemorate and remind people of the historical legacy of the aqueduct that has been bequeathed to us. To that end, we are expanding this area through a project that is in keeping with the spirit of water.”

This effort follows the revival of the aqueduct as a result of the municipality’s restoration work initiated in 2009.

"We uncovered the aqueduct as a result of the restoration work. There were one hundred homes surrounding the aqueduct. We demolished those structures and relocated the residents to the biggest urban transformation zone in Türkiye. The residents are now currently seated in their own secure homes,” the mayor said.

The Avas Aqueduct – which is a portion of the Suleymaniye waterway according to some sources – was finished before 1559 and sometimes referred to as "Mimar Sinan's seal on Esenler.”

Mimar Sinan, or Sinan the Architect, was born in Agirnas – a very small village near the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri – in 1490 and left an indelible mark on the skylines of Ottoman cities with the hundreds of structures he built.