4The Library of Celsus in Ephesus, Turkey

While the city of Ephesus (now located in western Turkey) was originally Greek, the majority of ancient ruins on the site were built during the city’s Roman period. The most impressive of these buildings is the Library of Celsus, which towers over the ancient city.

Built in the 2nd century CE, the library was named after the city’s former Roman governor, Gaius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus, and also served as a monumental tomb for him. While the library is ruins, the wonderful two-storey façade remains today, distinctive with its Corinthian style columns on the ground floor and window openings in the upper story. The statues in the niches of the columns today are the copies of the originals, which are displayed at the Ephesus Museum in Vienna. The Library of Celsus housed over 12,000 scrolls, which were kept in cupboards on the walls and was the third wealthiest library in ancient times, after the great libraries of Alexandra and Pergamum.

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