Istanbul's Taksim Square was originally a massive water hub
Long before it was a center for protests and tourism, this bustling plaza functioned as a massive valve, physically splitting a 23-kilometer stream of water to quench the city's thirst.
The name 'Taksim' is a linguistic fossil from the Arabic word for 'division,' marking the exact spot where Istanbul's water supply was once partitioned. In 1731, Sultan Mahmud I commissioned a stone reservoir at this high point to receive water traveling from the Belgrade Forest, nearly 23 kilometers away. This octagonal building acted as a primary junction box, using gravity to split a single massive flow into smaller streams that fed different neighborhoods.
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