The Magnaura (Byzantine Greek: Μαγναύρα, possibly from Latin Magna Aula, "Great Hall"[1]) 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 849, the Caesar Bardas established in the palace a school (ekpaideutērion) otherwise known as the University of Constantinople.