The ruins of Ephesus is one of the world’s greatest archaeological sites. It is located 75 km south of Izmir. In Hellenistic times, Ephesus became the most densely populated city in Anatolia with a population of more than 200 000. The city reached the peak of its glory under the Roman rule and became a very important centre of trade and commerce. A majority of the monuments that exist now date to that period. It was also the leading political and intellectual centre, with the second school of philosophy in the Aegean. The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

Ephesus also emerged as one of the main centers of early Christianity. St. Paul remained in the city for three years during his third missionary journey (53-57). The Apostle John also came to Ephesus to live and was finally buried here. Ephesus was one of the Seven Churches mentioned in his book of Revelation. Tradition has it that St. John brought Virgin Mary to Ephesus after Christ’s crucifixion and that she lived and died in a small wooden house located about three miles away in the forested mountain above Ephesus at the age of 101. In the year 431 the Third Ecumenical Council was held in the Basilica of the Virgin Mary in Ephesus. In the following century, Emperor Justinian (527-565) built a massive church at the spot where St John was believed to have been buried. It became an important site of pilgrimage throughout the Middle Ages.

The city ruins include the agora, theater, gymnasium, stadium, Church of the Virgin Mary, Temple of Serapis, Temple of Hadrian, Fountain of Trajan, Scholasticia Baths, Temple of Domitian and terrace houses that once belonged to rich Ephesians, as well as the Celsus Library. The Cathedral of St. John is on the Ayasuluk hill above the city.

The Celsus Library (shown in the picture) is the most impressive building of them all. According to inscriptions in Latin and Greek on the wings of the front steps, the Library was erected in AD 110 by the Consul G.J. Aquila for his father, G.J. Celsus Polemaeanus, formerly Roman Consul and governor of the Asian province. The library was completed in AD 135 by his heirs. Its façade was two-tiered, the interior consisted of a single large hall, measuring 10x16 m, comprising the Celsus library itself. The burial chamber under the floor contains the marble sarcophagus of Celsus in an excellent state of preservation.

The reading room destroyed in a fire in the second half of the 3rd century, but the façade did not suffer damage. For a time, the library was left filled with the resulting debris. About AD 400, the area in front of the building was converted into a pool. The façade served a decorative purpose, with its beautiful silhouette mirrored in the water.

The monumental façade as it stands today is the result of restoration work begun in the 1970s, completed and the whole opened to the public in 1978.