Skip to main content
Radar Türkiye
Discover events in the app
Open
Radar Türkiye
Sinan's Aqueducts at Kemerburgaz
Cultural

Sinan's Aqueducts at Kemerburgaz

No ratings yet

Sign in to like and rate

Kemerburgaz takes its name from its monuments. In Byzantine times the place was called Pyrgos, tower, which became Burgaz after the conquest.

Eyüpsultan, İstanbul
Cultural
Radar Editör
September 24, 2026

About Trip

Kemerburgaz takes its name from its monuments. In Byzantine times the place was called Pyrgos, tower, which became Burgaz after the conquest. When Mimar Sinan repaired the ruined Byzantine waterways and built new ones here, locals added kemer, arch or aqueduct, to the village's name. Today, south-west of the Belgrad Forest in the district of Eyüpsultan, the largest of the 16th-century aqueducts built to carry water to Istanbul stand around this neighbourhood. The population changed too: Turkish Wikipedia reports 360 Greek and 10 Turkish households after the War of Independence; in the 1923 exchange the Greeks left and families from Thessaloniki settled, while those who left founded Neos Pyrgos, New Burgaz, in northern Euboea. This trip covers those aqueducts, how to reach them, and which can be seen from the roadside and which only on foot.

Getting there

Kemerburgaz station on the M11 metro line has been open since 2023 and makes a good starting point. The Kemerburgaz City Forest's own website says it can be reached on İETT lines 48G and 48U; routes can change, so check before you go. Some of the aqueducts stand beside main roads, so take care on pavements and verges.

How the Kırkçeşme water worked

The aqueducts belong to the Kırkçeşme water system that Mimar Sinan built on the orders of Süleyman the Magnificent. The story goes that the sultan, hunting near Kağıthane, saw water seeping from an old channel and had experts study whether water could be brought to the city; Sinan surveyed the springs and streams of the Belgrad Forest and reported that it could. According to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, it was Sinan's most important work in engineering terms and his largest in volume; the Süleymaniye complex cost 35 million akçe, the Kırkçeşme system 50 million. Construction began in 1554 and was finished before 1563. Arches destroyed in the flood of 20 September 1563 were repaired and the system was running again in 1564. The same entry relates that the grand vizier Rüstem Pasha opposed the project, arguing that plentiful water would swell the city's population, and that the sultan ordered the work to continue.

The system collected water through two branches. The eastern branch drew on the Kirazlı, Topuz and Paşa streams, tributaries of the Kağıthane, the western branch on the Ayvat, Orta and Bakraç streams. The two met at the main basin south-west of Kemerburgaz, entered the main gallery, crossed the Alibey stream on the Mağlova aqueduct, took in the Cebeciköy branch and ran on to the Eğrikapı distribution chamber in the city. The water was never open to the air; even on the arches the channel was roofed with stone slabs. The galleries total more than 55 kilometres. The line has thirty-three aqueducts of all sizes, five of them monumental: Kovukkemer and Paşa Kemeri on the eastern branch, Uzunkemer on the western, and Mağlova and Güzelcekemer after the main basin. In Sinan's time around 300 fountains drew on Kırkçeşme water. Springs found later were linked to the main gallery as katma, additions, which grew to more than 570, though most have vanished. Between 1620 and 1818 the Karanlık, Büyük, Kirazlı and Ayvat dams were built at the heads of the branches to store rainy-season water; they still stand in the Belgrad Forest.

Uzunkemer

Uzunkemer, on the western branch, is the largest structure of the system: 711 metres long and two storeys high. There are fifty arches above and forty-seven below; the plan is not straight but a broken line, with the sharpest change of direction between the 23rd and 24th arches. Turkish Wikipedia calls it the longest aqueduct still standing in Turkey. It lies on the edge of Göktürk in Eyüpsultan, beside Eski Kemerburgaz Yolu and İstanbul Caddesi, so it is easy to see from the roadside. You grasp its length best by looking along its long side at an angle, which also shows the kinks in its plan.

Kovukkemer

Kovukkemer, on the eastern branch, also appears on maps and on Wikimedia Commons as Eğri Kemer. It stands south of Kemerburgaz where Eski Kemerburgaz Yolu meets Selanik Bulvarı and can also be seen from the roadside. The TDV entry calls it the hardest part of the system to date: its name does not appear in Sinan's memoirs, but it is very probably the "first dam arch near the head of the waterway" mentioned there. Part of the lowest storey and a small part of the middle one are thought to be Late Roman, so here you see Sinan taking over an older structure.

The Mağlova aqueduct

About 4 kilometres south-west of Kemerburgaz, in the valley of the Alibey stream, the Mağlova aqueduct is considered the most important part of Kırkçeşme in engineering and architecture. One of Sinan's memoirs calls it Moğlova, the other Muallakkemer, the "suspended arch". Pierre Gilles, who visited Istanbul in the 1540s, wrote that locals called the Alibey stream Makhleva, the likely origin of the name. The top is 258 metres long. There is a pedestrian passage through the aqueduct; counting the two small openings at its ends, it has thirty-three openings in all.

To resist the horizontal forces that come with height, Sinan widened the piers downwards in two stepped pyramids and lightened them with three small arches each. The four large lower arches span 17.50 metres, the upper ones 13.45. Measured from the foundations it is about 47 metres high, like a sixteen-storey building. The historian Semavi Eyice held that Mağlova matters to civil architecture as much as the Süleymaniye and Selimiye mosques do to religious architecture. Since the Alibey Dam was built, the lower part has been under water up to the springing of the arches; more of it appears when the reservoir drops. Sources say it still carries water to Istanbul.

Mağlova does not stand beside a main road. Maps show Kemer 3 Sokak, paths and steps around it. The Kemerburgaz City Forest also presents the aqueduct on its website, so it makes sense to combine the two in one afternoon.

Güzelcekemer

Güzelcekemer, also called Gözlüce or Cebeciköy aqueduct, lies today in Cebeci, in the district of Sultangazi. It is 29.5 metres high and 155 metres long, with eight arches below and eleven above; its cut-stone walls are 5.4 metres thick at the base and 2.6 at the top. Standing in the Alibeyköy reservoir basin, it is nearly half under water, and in summer, when the level drops, it can be examined up close. Maps show no road near it, only paths and dirt tracks, so leave it for experienced walkers and the dry season.

Kemerburgaz City Forest

The best place to rest between the aqueducts is the Kemerburgaz City Forest, owned by the metropolitan municipality. According to its website it covers 5.5 million square metres with walking trails, play areas and event spaces, and the lake area is a fifteen-minute walk from the entrance. Fires, barbecues and samovars are not allowed and there is no overnight stay. Vehicle entry is charged; check current hours and fees on the website before you go.

A one-day plan

Arrive by M11 at Kemerburgaz in the morning. Go north first to Uzunkemer and follow its long side from the road, then turn south to Kovukkemer. In the afternoon take a bus or taxi to the City Forest, rest there and go on to Mağlova. Save Güzelcekemer for another day, in summer and with a map. If you hoped to see the main basin where the two branches meet, Turkish Wikipedia notes that it belongs to the water authority İSKİ and is fenced off for protection.

Practical notes

  • Do not climb the aqueducts or walk on them, except through the pedestrian passage at Mağlova.
  • The reservoir basin is a drinking water source; follow protection rules and warning signs.
  • When photographing the roadside aqueducts, choose a safe place to stop.
  • Bring closed shoes, water and an offline map for the paths.

Sources

Location - Sinan's Aqueducts at Kemerburgaz

Trip Info
CityEyüpsultan, İstanbul
TypeCultural
DateSeptember 24, 2026
SourceRadar Editör
Radar TürkiyeAuthorRadar TürkiyeVisit SourceGet Directions