Library of Celsus, Turkey was built in honor of Celsus who used to be a prominent and wealthy Greek Roman citizen (a Roman senator, Roman consul and governor in Asia). He was buried in the sarcophagus beneath the library so the library serves as his ancient monumental tomb. It contained 12000 scrolls. In 262AD the library was destroyed in an earthquake, the books got lost but the façade survived until the late 10th century when it was destroyed by another earthquake.
Fortunately, the façade was rebuilt during the 1970s and now it’s a prime example of Roman public architecture. The library of Celsus shows that public libraries were built not only in Rome but in other places.
