This grandiose building, which has been sympathetically restored by a team of Austrian archaeologists, appears from the depths of History like a mirage. On its elegant and breathtaking façade, niches house copies of the allegorical statues of the Virtues: Wisdom, Goodness, Knowledge etc. Built at the start of the 2C, it housed 12 000 scrolls stored in galleries, where a clever ventilation system protected then from the vagaries of the weather. This library rivalled its counterpart in Alexandria in importance.