Image: Rotunda Sveti Georgi, Sofia

Description: The Church of St George (Ротонда „Свети Георги“ or Rotonda "Sveti Georgi") is an Early Christian red brick rotunda that is considered the oldest building in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. The rotunda has a diameter of 9.5m and is about 14m high. It's brick walls are an impressive 1.40m thick. The building is situated amid remains of the ancient town of Serdica. The original function of the rotunda is still debated. Some say it was built as a bath (or kaldarium), others argue that since it was located in the centre of 2nd century AD Roman public buildings, it likely had a religious and ceremonial function. Emperor Constantine the Great turned the Rotunda into a Christian temple, which survived until the invasion of Attila's Huns, when it was almost completely destroyed. It was reconstructed during the reign of Emperor Justinian. During the reign of sultan Selim I (16th century), the church was turned into a mosque, the 'Gyul Mosque'. A minaret was constructed, and the Early Christian art was painted over with Islamic decorative elements. The original frescoes (3 layers) were only uncovered during restoration works in the 20th century.
Title: Rotunda Sveti Georgi, Sofia
Credit: originally posted to Flickr as Sofia - Rotunda Sveti Georgi
Author: Ann Wuyts
Permission: This image, which was originally posted to Flickr.com, was uploaded to Commons using Flickr upload bot on 18:42, 28 November 2010 (UTC) by Deerstop (talk). On that date, it was available under the license indicated. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. You are free: to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work to remix – to adapt the work Under the following conditions: attribution – You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 CC BY 2.0 Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 truetrue
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