The
Magnaura (
Byzantine , possibly from
Latin Magna Aula, "Great Hall") was a large building in
Constantinople. It is equated by scholars with the building that housed the
Senate, and which was located east of the
Augustaion, close to the
Hagia Sophia and next to the
Chalke gate of the
Great Palace. A large gate, described by
Procopius, probably made out of marble led into a
peristyle courtyard which led to the Magnaura. The building, a
basilica with three naves, was subsequently used as a throne room and a reception hall, and in ca. 855, the
Caesar Bardas established in the palace a school (
ekpaideuterion). However, this was not the University of Constantinople, but rather a Philosophical school, because the University of Constantinople was created during the time of Theodosius II in 425 AD.