Archaeological finding Germany’s oldest library discovered in Cologne

Cologne · During excavations in Cologne, archaeologists have discovered the foundations of Germany’s oldest verifiable library. Cologne historic preservation official Marcus Trier said on Wednesday that it was built in the 2nd century in Roman Cologne.

Archaeologists had already encountered the massive remains of the wall a year ago during construction work for the new city church center of the Protestant church community in Cologne city center.

"At first, we thought it was the remains of a public assembly room," Trier said. But the walls had "peculiar, niche-like divisions." Only after intensive investigations and comparisons with other ancient buildings, for example in Ephesus, did it become clear that a library had once stood there.

The building was probably two stories tall, with a size of around 20 by 9 meters, plus an extension. "There were certainly several thousand scrolls to borrow in there," said Trier, who is also director of the Romano-Germanic Museum.

The foundations would now be integrated into the new building of the church center and should be partially open to the public, according to a report in the "Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger", a Cologne daily newspaper. (Orig. text: dpa, Translation: ck)

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