Library of Celsus, Ancient Roman library ruins in Selçuk, Turkey
The Library of Celsus displays a double-story facade with marble columns, four female statues, and intricate architectural details at the center of Ephesus archaeological site.
Built between 110 and 135 AD by Gaius Julius Aquila, the library served as both a repository for 12,000 scrolls and a mausoleum for his father.
The statues in the facade niches represent the virtues of Sophia, Arete, Ennoia, and Episteme, reflecting Roman philosophical and educational values.
The library entrance requires climbing nine steps, and while visitors cannot enter the interior, they can explore the facade and surrounding courtyard.
The building incorporated a specialized gap between its inner and outer walls to maintain constant temperature and humidity for manuscript preservation.
Location: Selçuk
Part of: Ephesus
GPS coordinates: 37.93914,27.34075
Latest update: May 26, 2025 20:53
European historic libraries and bookshops preserve written heritage accumulated over centuries. From Livraria Bertrand in Lisbon, founded in 1732 and still operating at the same location, to the Bodleian Library in Oxford, which has housed over 13 million works since 1602, these sites reflect the evolution and dissemination of books. Livraria Lello in Porto is notable for its curved wooden staircase and neo-Gothic woodwork from 1906, while Dominicanen Bookshop in Maastricht is housed in a converted 13th-century church. These spaces are distinguished by their architecture, from baroque to neo-Gothic, and by their function preserved across centuries. The Celsus Library in Izmir, built in 135 AD, used double walls to protect its 12,000 parchments from humidity. Hatchards in London has been operating since 1797 over five floors in Piccadilly, whereas Shakespeare and Company in Paris has maintained its English-language tradition since 1951 opposite Notre-Dame. These institutions offer visitors the chance to explore places where the history of the book is engraved in stone and wood.
Ephesus
634 m
Basilica of St. John
2.8 km
Archaeological site of Ephesus
362 m
Ephesus Archaeological Museum
2.6 km
Church of Mary
660 m
Ephesus Archaeological Museum
2.6 km
İsa Bey Mosque
2.7 km
Temple of Hadrian
127 m
Terrace Houses in Ephesus
133 m
Nymphaeum Traiani (Ephesus)
196 m
Çukuriçi Höyük
2 km
Parthian Monument
5 m
Prytaneion (Ephesus)
364 m
Scholastikia Baths (Ephesus)
127 m
Meryemana Nature Park
2.3 km
Ephesus
2 km
Terrace House 2 (Ephesus)
99 m
Agora of Ephesus
105 m
South Gate of the Agora (Ephesus)
35 m
Basilica Stoa (Ephesus)
419 m
State Agora
429 m
Bouleuterion (Ephesus)
445 m
Efes Deneyim Müzesi/Ephesus Experience Museum
195 m
Temenos with Double Monument (Ephesus)
405 m
Terrace House 1 (Ephesus)
133 m
Baths on the State Agora (Ephesus)
524 m
Theater Gymnasium (Ephesus)
313 m
Stadium
900 mReviews
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