Hadrian's Library - a building in Athens , built by the Roman emperor Hadrian in 132-134. n e. north of the Acropolis . Books in the form of papyrus scrolls were stored in the library. There were reading rooms and a lecture hall. Currently, only the western wall has been preserved from the library.
The building was built in the architectural style of the Roman Forum and had a quadrangular shape of 122 × 82 m. The building had one entrance with propylae and Corinthian columns . The building included a large atrium surrounded by four arcades facing the open courtyard with a peristyle . The large courtyard was almost square and was surrounded by walls, the entrance was located in the west. The gilded ceiling of the library was made of alabaster, the walls of white marble were decorated with paintings, sculptures were in niches. [one]
During the capture of Athens by the Meruls in 267 AD e. the library was seriously damaged, but was later restored by the Roman prefect Herculius in 407-412. In Byzantine times, three churches were built on the site of the library: tetraconch (V century A.D. ), a basilica with three naves (VII century A.D.) and a domed church , which was the first cathedral of the city, known as the Megali Panagia ".
Currently, the ruins of the library are a paid museum and are one of the attractions of Athens .
Notes
- ↑ Rubanova T.D. History of Librarianship: The Ancient World - Middle Ages - Age of Enlightenment. - Chelyabinsk: Publishing House of ChGAKI, 2003. - 112 p. - ISBN 5-94839-047-0 .