The Rotonda (church of Agios Georgios)

The Rotonda owes its name to its round shape. Located in the eastern part of the historic centre of Thessalonica, a short distance north of the Via Egnatia, it was founded around 300 AD and is thus one of the oldest monuments in the city. Part of the complex built by Galerius, it lies on the same axis as the Arch of Galerius, the palace and the Hippodrome. Although its original function remains unclear, it is believed to have been a mausoleum for its founder or - according to the dominant view - a place of worship dedicated to Zeus or the Cabeiri. It has also recently been suggested that the building was the mausoleum of Constantine the Great.

The Rotonda is a centrally planned building, with an internal diameter of 24.50m covered with a brick dome rising to 29.80m. The interior is divided into eight oblong recesses ending in semi-domes. The southernmost of these faces the Arch of Galerius and the palace, and served as the main entrance. The piers had shallow conches resembling chapels, as their fronts had pillars that supported an arc or a triangular pediment.

The monument was converted into a Christian church in the early Christian period, though precisely when it changed name and function is not known. It was then that alterations and additions were made to the original building, affecting its stability and architectural coherence. The east conch was enlarged and widened and the sanctuary was built in the form of a rectangular room with semicircular apse to the east; a closed portico was also erected around the Roman core of the building, but probably destroyed by earthquakes in the early 7th century. A new entrance with a narthex was opened in the west conch, and a propylon added to the south conch, with a round chapel to the east and an octagonal one to the west.

It is believed that this work was carried out between the end of the 4^th century and the early 6^th century, most likely during the reign of Theodosius the Great (379-395 AD). The dominant view is that the church was consecrated to the Incorporeal Saints, as attested in written sources by the name of the adjoining gate in the city walls and the neighbourhood around the church. None of the early Christian additions apart from the eastern conch have survived.

When the building was converted into a church, the lower surfaces of the inside walls were dressed with marble revetments, below exquisite mosaics by a renowned artistic workshop. The subjects depicted in the recession vaults and skylights are purely decorative in nature, displaying an impressive variety of plant and geometric motifs, birds, baskets of fruit, flowers, intersecting circles and squares.

The dome has large compositions arranged in three zones, believed to depict the triumphant appearance of Christ as Heavenly King. The lower zone is wider and divided into eight separate panels, of which the east was destroyed when part of the dome collapsed. The remaining panels retain the original mosaics depicting people (probably martyrs) praying, like an illustrated calendar of saints’ days, in front of two-storey buildings with multiple openings and complex structure, reminiscent of theatre facades and the tombs of Arabia Petraea. The middle zone contained depictions of apostles, though only their feet have survived. All that remains in the upper zone is the heads of three of the four angels supporting a mandorla of stars and a wreath with leafs and fruit. In their midst is the mythical phoenix, standing out on a radiant red disk. The complex meaning of the decor culminates in the centre of the mandorla, where there are traces of the original design of a triumphant Christ shown in full figure, outlined in charcoal at the top of the dome. A different interpretation of the decoration holds that the representations are associated with imperial iconography in late antiquity, in which case they may have been created in the 4th century as part of the monument’s conversion into the third mausoleum of Constantine the Great.

In the late 9th century the apse in the sanctuary was decorated with a wall painting of the Ascension stylistically reminiscent of the mosaic version in Agia Sophia.
The two surviving sections of the exquisite marble pulpit in the Rotonda are now in the Archaeological Museum at Istanbul, while the base still stands near the church’s south entrance, where it was found during excavations in 1918. It is shaped like an open fan and decorated with scenes from the Adoration of the Magi that are unique among early Christian pulpits.

After the conversion of Agia Sophia into a mosque, the church was probably used as the cathedral of Thessalonica from 1523/24 up until its conversion in 1590/91. In its current form the Ottoman period alterations are still visible: the minaret and fountain to the west of the church; the porticoes at the west and south entrances; and various repairs. The name Agios Georgios is derived from the chapel dedicated to the same saint a short distance to the west, where the church vessels were stored after the Rotonda was converted into a mosque.

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