Difficult sentence, need help please!

Can someone translate this? I think I understand the first part of the sentence, but not the last part.

The context: He is comparing his office to the ruins of an ancient civilization

No por su aspecto desordenado y caotica, sino porque ciertamente paracen los vestigios de aquel ser civilizado que fui.

“they appeared to be the remains of those to be civilized that was”??? :slight_smile:

that civilised (human) being that he was

Thank you, makes more sense that way.