What is "magnaura"

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 (ekpaideutērion). 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.