The Great Hall of the Jedi Temple was one of the many vast chambers located on the first level of the Temple. Erected circa 4000 BBY by the Four Masters, the Hall would stand until 3653 BBY when the resurgent Sith Empire ransacked Galactic City.
Having later been rebuilt, the Great Hall would exist until the Temple was again destroyed at the end of the Clone Wars. In 19 BBY, the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious, in his alter ego as Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic, ordered the Grand Army to eliminate the Jedi, and take the Temple on behalf of the Galactic Empire. Marching into the Temple under the leadership of Darth Vader, the 501st Legion destroyed the Great Hall as they slaughtered the Jedi that occupied the Temple.
The Great Hall would lie in silence as the Empire ruled the galaxy for the next few decades. Eventually, the New Republic was able to drive the Empire from Coruscant and the New Jedi Temple, under the leadership of Luke Skywalker, reinhabited the Temple for a brief period. However, the Temple would not survive the Yuuzhan Vong War, being lost during the Battle of Coruscant to the Yuuzhan Vong. While the old Temple was lost, the substructure of the Temple remained. Reclaiming Coruscant and driving the Yuuzhan Vong offworld, the Galactic Alliance Chief of State Cal Omas donated a new Temple to the Order for their efforts during the War. Built by the Reconstruction Authority using schematics saved from the lost Temple Archives, the Temple was rebuilt as it had stood for several millennia, despite having a new outer shell.
As the Jedi Order flourished, the Great Hall served the Order as it always had. In the year 44 ABY, Jedi Knight Valin Horn was showing signs of a mysterious disease causing him to think that everyone he met was a replacement of the real individual. Having been kept in the Temple's Halls of Healing, Horn managed to escape, fleeing into Galactic City. In an attempt to avoid media coverage, Grand Master Skywalker assembled all available Knights and Masters to the Great Hall. Here, Skywalker and Chief Healer Cilghal organized search parties to located and detain Horn. While the Jedi managed to capture Horn, the Galactic Alliance intervened and declared that he would be treated in an Alliance medical hospital.
Later that year, Chief Of State Natasi Daala ordered that Grand Master Skywalker be exiled from the Order, Interim Grand Master Kenth Hamner assembled the entire Jedi presence on Coruscant, including long time friends of the founder of the Order, to say farewell to him as he left on his ten year ban from the Order. Immediately after, Interim Master Hamner took advantage of his new position to install new activities that he felt necessary to bring the Order into line. He arranged for morning briefings to be held in the Hall directly after breakfast. Though he admitted addressing the Order through their individual datapad may have been more efficient, he preferred to see everyone's reactions to his news. In one of his addresses he restated that all Jedi were to comply with the Senate-appointed Jedi supervisors and not to evade them. After that specific address, Knight Jaina Solo evaded her supervisor, Dab Hantaq, by slipping behind a column and down a back stair, descending two stories to a dark, seldom used conference room. Here, she met Head of the Imperial Remnant Jagged Fel and discussed the possibility of starting a schismatic Jedi school in the Chiss Ascendancy.
When a report on the HoloNet reported the escape of rogue Jedi Seff Hellin and Valin Horn from the Armand Isard Correctional Facility, Captain Oric Harfard of the Coruscant Security Force marched into the Temple and demanded that Master Hamner confess to having a part in the escape. Heading to the turbolifts in the Great Hall, Hamner led the Captain past a group of gathered Jedi consisting of Jedi Solo, Hu'lya and Master Corran Horn. Hamner and Harfard left the chamber as they shot through the Temple to Hamner's quarters.
After Jedi left their Temple on mission to find and destroy Abeloth and Ship, Lost Tribe of Sith became temporary occupants of the Jedi Temple. Grand Lord Darish Vol once walked Great Hall with High Lord Ivaar Workan praising him for his difficult work to infiltrate Sith on Galactic Alliance capital city Coruscant and preparation for Sith to rule the galaxy, shortly after he was killed by Abeloth disguised as senator "Rokari Kem".
The Great Hall was a four-story tall chamber situated directly beyond the Temple Main Entrance. A large meeting chamber with many tiers and balconies, seats would be brought in for formal gatherings and conclaves. Between many of the pillars lining the hall were passages and stairways leading to small chambers near the Hall. In addition, several banks of turbolifts led into the depths of the Temple, ensuring that the Great Hall could be reached from any level of the complex. Off one of the tiers was a small lecture hall where younglings came for group learning sessions. The lecture room was converted to a base of operations for the Senate appointed a supervisor that was to monitor each Jedi's daily actions.
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia