Water cisterns – relics of a bygone era

Water cisterns – relics of a bygone era

Dotted around towns and villages, scattered across hilltops and beside quiet roads, you will often spot domed, circular stone buildings and wonder what they are. These are water cisterns (sarnıç in Turkish). Remarkably, around 250 of them can still be found across Muğla province. The cisterns Built during the Ottoman period, these structures were designed to collect winter rainwater, which was then used to irrigate fields and provide drinking wa…