Library of Celsus, Ephesus

Originally commissioned by the Consul Julius Aquila as a mausoleum for his father, Julius Celsus Polemaeanus, the Library of Celsus is one of the most beautiful and recognized buildings in Ephesus. After its construction between 110 and 135 AD, Celsus was buried in a niche in the back wall. When a fire destroyed the reading room and an earthquake collapsed the facade in the 10th Century, the library was resurrected to its beautiful state between 1970 and 1978 by the Austrian archaeologists.