The famous Rotunda in Thessaloniki, also known as the Rotunda of St George, is one of the most interesting sights of the city, as well as an important historical and architectural monument. The Rotunda was built back in the early 4th century and was part of a huge palace complex (of which the famous Arch of Galerius was also a part, located just 125 metres from the Rotunda), built by order of the Roman Emperor Galerius.
It is believed that the Rotunda was planned as a mausoleum for Emperor Galerius, but was never used for its intended purpose. True, there is a version that the building was part of a palace complex for official receptions, but it is quite possible that it was originally planned as a temple. Historians have not reached a consensus. Presumably in the first half of the 4th century the building was converted into a Christian temple and was used as such until 1591, when Thessaloniki fell under the rule of the Turks, who turned the Rotunda, as well as most Christian shrines, into a mosque. Christians returned the sanctuary only in 1912, after the liberation of Thessaloniki, and the Museum of Christian Art was established within its walls. In 1988, together with other early Christian and Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki, the Rotunda was included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Today, services in the Rotunda are held only on great feasts.
The original Rotonda building was a cylindrical-shaped structure with massive, more than 6 m thick, walls with arched niches-chambers and a huge dome with an oculus (modelled on the dome of the Pantheon in Rome). At the end of the 4th and beginning of the 5th century, a number of significant changes were made to the architectural appearance of the building. For example, a nave was added to the western part, and an apse was added to the south-eastern part. The main entrance was moved to the western part of the Rotunda. During the same period, the interior of the building was decorated with beautiful mosaics, some of which have survived to this day, and during the Turkish rule, a minaret was added to the building, which you can see today.
