Aqueduct of Bozdoğan

The Aqueduct of Bozdoğan (Grey Falcon), originally named as Aqueduct of Valens, was constructed by the Romans in the 4^th Century.

The construction of the Aqueduct of Bozdoğan, reached to its current state after repairs commissioned by the Ottoman Sultans, was concluded by the end of the 4^th Century. This water aqueduct, shining out among the most spectacular Medieval Age monuments, used to fulfill the water requirement of those periods to a greater extent.

The surviving part of the Aqueduct of Bozdoğan, located at the Fatih District of Istanbul, extended between the Fatih Mosque and the hills at where İstanbul University is located, is the part with the length 50 meters shorter than the -original- length of 921 meters. The aqueduct, constructed to fulfill the water requirement increasing with parallel to the increasing population of the Constantine Period, was fed with water from the hillsides between the Marmara Sea and Kağıthane.

The Aqueduct of Bozdoğan, actually a part of a water supply and reservoir system with the length of approximately 250 kilometers, has become quite effective in fulfilling the water requirement of a city as major as Istanbul throughout the history.

The Aqueduct of Bozdoğan, commissioned by the Emperor Constantine when Istanbul became the capital during the Roman Period, has been subjected to certian repairs, including various additions. The most substantial ones among the entire additions constructed have taken place in the Justinian period.

The Aqueduct of Bozdoğan, partly demolished by Avar Turks during the siege of Istanbul, has been undergone through restoration during the reign of Constantine V in 758. The Aqueduct of Bozdoğan, with the last major repair in the 11^th Century, had certain additions in the Ottoman Period.

The Aqueduct of Bozdoğan, located at 65 meters above sea level and about 20 meters above the ground, attracts attention with its period of active use for 1,500 years. According to some historians, another interesting feature of the Aqueduct of Bozdoğan, which is named after " Aqueduct of Bozulgan", is that Architect Sinan has played a quite major role to connect the aqueduct to the water arriving from Belgrad Forest.