Snapshots of 19th-century Athens

An ark of knowledge

Hadrian designed a library to restore Athens to its traditional magnificence in the second century. The central building had an enclosed inner courtyard and served as a library and cultural centre. Two rooms contained thousands of rolls of papyrus “books”, while lecture and teaching halls (amphitheatres) occupied the library’s northern and southern quarters. The building had a single entrance with a gateway of Corinthian order consisting of four columns. There were seven more on each of the longer sides with statues of winged Victories (Nike). The Heruli destroyed the library in 267. A Christian church was built at the site a few centuries later. The church's construction resulted in the preservation of much building material from the older library. The area was an administrative, cultural, and commercial centre, while a market operated here during the Ottoman period. After Greek independence, the structures in the library served as barracks, while a major fire that erupted on the library’s east side in 1884 provided the opportunity for archaeological excavations.