Rotunda (architecture)

A rotunda is any building with a circular ground plan, often covered by a dome. It can also refer to a round room within a building (a famous example being within the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.). The Pantheon in Rome is a famous rotunda. A Band Rotunda is a circular bandstand, usually with a dome.

Rotunda in Central Europe

The rotunda have historical and architectural value because it was widespread in the medieval Central Europe. Great number of parochial churches were built in this form in the 9-11th Century A.D. in Central Europe. This type of circular shaped parochial buildings can be found in great number in Hungary, Bohemia, Poland, Croatia, Austria, Bayern, Dalmatia, Germany. Sometime it was thought as descending structure from the Roman Pantheon, however, it can be found mainly not on the Roman territories, but Central Europe. Generally its size was 6-9 meters inner diameter and the apsis was directed toward east. Sometimes 3 or 4 apsis was glued to the central circle and this type has relatives even in the Caucasus.

Rotunda in the Carpathian Basin

Several types of rotunda can be found in the Carpathian Basin, in the Medieval Hungary. The role of this building can be deciphered from the gradual enlargements of ancient small village churches. Many of them stands today (Nagytótlak, Kallósd, Kissikátor, Bény, Süvéte). Many places the ancient foundations were excavated and conserved. In the form of the village church of Sárospatak we can see a simple circular „nave” and an apsis in East. The church of Alagi major at Dunakeszi was enlarged in the direction of the apsis in the XIV.th C. A greater enlargement of the central rotunda can be observed at Isaszeg where the extension extended toward east and west directions and the rotunda foundations can be seen in the central portion of the nave of the gothic church. In many cases the rotunda was used as the apsis of the new larger church of the village (Bagod-Szentpál, Hidegség, Vágkeresztur, Ipolykiskeszi, Herencsény, Szalonna). Such half circle apsis is preserved all around the Carpathian basin. The most interesting relation is with the rotunda of six apsis, which can be found at Karcsa, Gerény, Kiszombor in Hungary and several places in Armenia (Aragatz, Bagaran, Bagnayr, Botshor, Kiagmis Alti).

Rotunda in the Caucasus

There is an interesting connection between Central European and Caucasian rotundas of the 9-11. C. A. D. Several Armenian built rotunda churches have sixfold arched central apsis, i. e. at Aragatz, Bagaran, Bagnayr, Botshor, Kiagmis Alti in Armenia. At the same time eightfold arched central buildings (rotunda) are also frequently occurring in Armenia: Ani, Irind, Varzhahan, Ninozminda. It was a suggestion (Csemegi J.) that there was not only western European but Eastern Caucasian relation for architects of Hungary of this age of king I. Stephen of Hungary.

Notable Rotundas

Religious buildings

*The Baptistery at the Piazza dei Miracoli, Pisa, Italy.
*The Pantheon, Rome, Italy, originally built as a temple to the seven deities of the seven planets in the state religion of Ancient Rome.
* The Santo Stefano Rotondo, Rome.
* The Church of the Rotonda in Thessaloniki, built as the "Tomb of Galerius" in 306 AD.
* The St George Rotunda in Sofia, Bulgaria, a 4th-century Early Christian church
* St. George Cathedral Church at Zvartnots, Armenia
* St. Martin's Rotunda in Vyšehrad Castle, Prague, Czech Republic
* The Rotunda of St Marija Assunta in Mosta, Malta
* The Temple Church in London

Buildings for entertainment

* The large Rotunda at Ranelagh Gardens in London, built in the 1740s and demolished in 1805. It was painted by Canaletto.
*The Pantheon, London, opened 1772, demolished in 1937.
* The internal Rotunda in the Michael Maddox Petrovsky Theatre, Moscow (burnt down in 1805).
*The Gate Theatre in Dublin, Ireland (formerly the Rotunda Hospital, built in 1757).
*The Roundhouse in London, originally built in 1847 as a turntable engine shed, it was used as a gin store till being converted into a theatre in the 1960s.
*The Royal Albert Hall in London, England.
*The IMAX Theatre in London, England.

Residential buildings

*Ickworth House in Suffolk, England.
*Mereworth Castle in Kent, England
*The Rotunda in Birmingham, England, built as an office building in 1964.The Rotunda Building, Norfolk, VA [http://www.norfolkrotunda.com] rebuilt in 2007

Buildings for learning

* The Rotunda at the University of Virginia built in 1826.
*The British Museum Reading Room, London built in 1857.
* The Rotunda Museum, Scarborough, North Yorkshire.
* Dallas Hall at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas built in 1911.

Government buildings

* Beehive (building), a New Zealand parliament building.
* The United States Capitol.
* The Rotundas, a subterranean structure in Marsham Street in London

See also

* Rotunda (disambiguation)
* Round church

Outer references

* Vera, Gervers-Molnár (1972): A középkori Magyarország rotundái. (Rotunda in the Medieval Hungary). Akadémiai, Budapest
* József, Csemegi (1949): A tarnaszentmáriai templom hajójának stíluskritikai vizsgálata. (Studies on the Nave of the Church at Tarnaszentmária.) in: Antiquitas Hungarica III (1949), 92-107.
* Sena Sekulić-Gvozdanović (1994): Templom erődítések Horvátországban. (Fortresses in Croatia). Tankönyvkiadó, Zágráb. http://mars.elte.hu/varak/aahrtemplomvarak/hr%20templomvarak.htm
* Osterlar Church in Danmark http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%98sterlars_kyrka