Hadrian's Library
A Roman emperor's gilded reading room that ended up as Athens' first cathedral.
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Hadrian built this in AD 132 as a full cultural complex: papyrus rolls shelved in the east wing, lecture halls in the corners, reading rooms alongside, and a decorative pool centered in the colonnaded courtyard. Herulian raiders damaged it in 267. By the 12th century, three successive Byzantine churches had risen inside the ruins — the last, Megali Panagia, was the first cathedral of the city.
What to look for
- The oblong decorative pool at the center of the inner courtyard
- The high perimeter wall's protruding niches (exedrae) along the long sides
- The colossal statue of Nike/Victoria, excavated on the site in 1988
On the north side of the Acropolis, the entrance originally faced the Roman agora (the old oil market).
Hadrian's Library is one of 36 sights worth the detour in Athens, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Athens pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Athens
- ParthenonA temple built to celebrate a war victory that went on to become a church, a mosque, and a gunpowder depot — blown apart in 1687 and still being reassembled.
- Acropolis of AthensA flat-topped rock 150 m above the city where Pericles spent the 5th century BC erecting the buildings that still define Athens.
- Platonic Academy (Akadimia Platonos)Aristotle studied here for twenty years before leaving to found his own school — and the word "academy" has followed ever since.
- Classical AthensDemocracy was invented here in 508 BC — and it took a bribe at Delphi to get it started.
- Olympic Stadium Athens "Spyros Louis"Santiago Calatrava's white steel roof arches over the same track where Athens opened the 2004 Olympics — and hosted three Champions League finals.
- ErechtheionThe one Greek temple that broke every rule of classical architecture — and scholars still can't agree on what it was actually called.