The very first issue looked at one of the largest town in the Roman empire- Ephesus, in Asia Minor, modern Turkey. Here the Austrian Archaeological Institute has been conducting a major campaign of reconstruction. Their first success was the reconstruction of the Library of Celsus (right) but more recently they have just completed their excavation of a whole insula (block) of town-houses and erected a state-of-the-art cover building over them. We were one of the first visitors, and were able not only to provide a guided tour around the wealthy houses with their very rich decoration – but also to take a look at the very clever cover building that had been erected over them.
