Ροτόντα, Rotunda of Thessalonike

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The Rotunda of Galerius is now the Greek Orthodox Church of Agios Georgios. The cylindrical structure was built in 306 on the orders of the tetrarch Galerius, who was thought to have intended it to be his mausoleum. It was more likely intended as a temple; it is not known to what god it would have been dedicated. The Rotunda has a diameter of 24.5 m. Its walls are more than 6 m thick, which is one reason why it has withstood Thessaloniki's earthquakes. The walls are interrupted by eight rectangular bays, with the south bay forming the entrance. A flat brick dome, 30 m high at the peak, crowns the cylindrical structure. In its original design, the dome of the Rotunda had an oculus like the Pantheon in Rome. After Galerius's death in 311, he was buried at Gamzigrad (Felix Romuliana) near Zajecar, Serbia); however, the structure stood empty until the Emperor Constantine I ordered it converted into a Christian church in the 4th century. The church was embellished with very high artistic quality mosaics. The building functioned as a church for over 1,200 years until the city fell to the Ottomans. In 1590 it was then converted into a mosque, the Mosque of Suleyman Hortaji Effendi, and a minaret was added to the structure. It remained a mosque until 1912, when the Greeks liberated the city during the Balkan War. #church #roman