At a glance
🎟️ 10€
Reduced €5. Free for EU citizens under 25.
🕗 From 8:00
Until 20:00 in summer, until 15:00 in winter.
🚇 Monastiraki
Line 1, two stops. The entrance is two minutes from the station.
⏱️ 30 minutes
For a walk around. An hour if you read the signs.
What it really was
The word “library” tells only part of the story. Hadrian, the emperor who loved Athens more than any other Roman, built a large rectangular complex here. It had a gateway with Corinthian columns, an inner courtyard with porticoes, and a garden and a pool in the middle. Pausanias writes of “a hundred columns of Phrygian marble”. The book rooms, reading rooms and lecture halls were on the east side.
In today’s terms, it was something between a library, a park and a cultural centre. Hadrian wanted to show Athens as the city of learning within the empire. That’s why, at the same time, he finished the Olympieion, and the Arch that bears his name went up.
A wall of Pentelic marble and columns of Karystos marble. This is what you see from Areos Street.
In the evening, with the Monastiraki shops in front and the Rock above.
The same façade, with the mosque next to it and the bazaar of Ottoman Athens all around.
Photos: Carole Raddato (CC BY-SA 2.0), George E. Koronaios (CC BY-SA 4.0), Paul des Granges (public domain) · Wikimedia Commons
What you’ll see today
- The west façade: on Areos Street. The wall is Pentelic marble and the columns in front of it are Karystos marble, with its green veining. The northern wing survives. The southern one is gone.
- The courtyard: a large open space. Only a few of the hundred columns are left, but you get a sense of the scale.
- The tetraconch: in the 5th century, in the middle of the courtyard, a building with four apses went up, perhaps one of the first churches in Athens. Later, other churches were built on the spot, the last being Megali Panagia, whose columns and arches still stand.
- The east wall: behind it were the rooms with the book scrolls. You see it from the courtyard side.
In Ottoman times the area was the city’s bazaar, and for decades a clock tower stood in the courtyard. Next to the façade, the 18th-century Tzistarakis Mosque still stands on Monastiraki Square.
This was the garden with the pool, inside the hundred columns.
In the 5th century, in the middle of the courtyard, a building with four apses went up.
Churches were later built on its remains. The last was Megali Panagia.
Pieces of the tetraconch’s mosaic floor.
Behind it were the rooms with the books.
From the south side of the courtyard, the Rock is right in front of you.
Photos: George E. Koronaios (CC BY-SA 2.0, CC0, CC BY-SA 4.0), Carole Raddato (CC BY-SA 2.0), Mark Landon (CC BY 4.0), Yair-haklai (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Tickets and opening hours 2026
| Season | Hours |
|---|---|
| 1 April – 31 August | 8:00–20:00 |
| 1–15 September | 8:00–19:30 |
| 16–30 September | 8:00–19:00 |
| 1–15 October | 8:00–18:30 |
| 16–31 October | 8:00–18:00 |
| 1 November – 31 March | 8:00–15:00 |
The ticket costs €10 and the reduced one €5. EU citizens under 25 get in free with an ID card or passport. Last entry is 20 minutes before closing. The site is closed on 1 January, 25 March, 1 May, Easter Sunday and 25 and 26 December. Free for everyone are, among others, the 1st and 3rd Sunday in winter. See all the dates in our calendar of free museum days. The old combined ticket no longer exists. We explain what applies in our guide to the combined ticket.
💡 Is it worth going in?
The façade can be seen very well from the Areos Street pavement, without a ticket. If you’re short of time or money, look at it from outside and go into the Roman Agorainstead. If Roman and early Christian Athens draw you in, the courtyard and the tetraconch are worth half an hour.
🚇 How to get there from Ioulianou 50
It’s one of the easiest sights to reach from the apartment. Allow about 15 minutes door to door.
- Ioulianou 50 → Victoria station: 3 minutes on foot.
- Line 1 (green), towards Piraeus: Omonia, and at the second stop get off at Monastiraki.
- Monastiraki → entrance: come out onto the square, walk past the mosque, and the entrance is at Areos 3, two minutes on foot.
On foot, it’s about 2 km and 25 minutes from Ioulianou 50, straight down Athinas Street.
Where it is in relation to the apartment
📍 From Angels Athens to Hadrian’s Library
See at a glance how to get there from the apartment at Ioulianou 50. Drag the map and zoom in for details.
Roman Athens on foot
The Library is the best start for a short walk through Roman Athens. Two minutes south is the Roman Agora with the Tower of the Winds. From there, through the lanes of Plaka, you reach the Lysicrates Monument, then Hadrian’s Arch and the Olympieion. The same emperor keeps you company from start to finish.
🗺️ Roman Athens, stop by stop
From Monastiraki station to the Olympieion, through Plaka: about 1.7 km, half an hour without stops. Tap each number to see what it is and how much it costs.
Two minutes south. The Tower of the Winds at the back.
Hadrian’s other monument, free, on Amalias Avenue.
The temple Hadrian finished. The end of the walk.
Photos: Zde (CC BY-SA 4.0), George E. Koronaios (CC BY-SA 4.0), Jebulon (CC0) · Wikimedia Commons
Don’t mix them up
Hadrian’s Library and Hadrian’s Arch are two different monuments. The Library is at Monastiraki, north of the Acropolis. The Arch stands on Amalias Avenue, to the south-east, next to the Olympieion, and doesn’t need a ticket.
Frequently asked questions
Can you go into the library rooms?
No. The east part, where the books were, is fenced off. You walk around the tetraconch from outside.
Is there a museum?
Not one with galleries. There are signs that help you read the plan. For finds, combine it with the Ancient Agora, which has a museum.
Is it wheelchair accessible?
The site is fairly flat, but it has gravel and ancient paving. Part of the tour is on wooden walkways. If you use a wheelchair, ask at the ticket office which route works best.
— Kathy
