Rotunda is a rather rare phenomenon in architecture, and therefore interesting from the point of view of assessing its historical and architectural significance. The use of this form in the construction of religious and public buildings reflected the ideals of religious culture and the needs of worldly life.
As a general rule, a rotunda is an architectural structure made in the form of a round structure topped with a dome with columns along the perimeter. Rotunda - "round" (from the Italian rotonda, from the Latin rotun-dus). The round shape is perceived by a person as ideal, creating the impression of integrity and completeness, harmony and balanced peace. Therefore, the development of rotundal architecture began with the creation of round burial structures designed to serve the memory and eternal rest of the deceased (mausoleums, baptisteries, chapels, churches). The first ancient temples of this kind are the ancient Greek tholos and the ancient Roman frontal-axial rotunda. During the Renaissance and Baroque, they taught further development in terms of constructive and artistic performance. The most active construction of rotunda temples was carried out in the historical periods of the heyday of humanistic ideas and creative rethinking of the classical samples of architectural heritage.
Sacred circular buildings
The use of centric (that is, center-axial) buildings in cult architecture is associated with the expression of the idea of the sky. The center of the circle is the absolute of sacredness, the unity of infinity and completeness, the limit of peace and highest perfection. There is nothing superfluous in the round temple, nothing distracts from communication with the Almighty. At each point of such a structure, a person is in the space under the dome, which means that he remains alone with God the Almighty. The rotunda temple also serves as a reminder that the Church of God will exist forever. The main elements of Christian religious buildings are the altar, the vestibule and the pillars that divide the interior space. The rotunda was used as an apse rounding of the altar part of the temple. This type of religious building was close to Christians and was more suitable for them for services.
Among the historical monuments of European sacred architecture, there are several of the most significant.
- The Rotunda Church of St. George (Bulgaria), dating back to the 4th century, has the shape of a rotunda. This is an early Christian building originally used as a baptistery.
- The temple in Brescia is famous for being the only round Christian cathedral until the 20th century.
- The oldest temple in Mantua, the rotunda of St. Lawrence, is considered a monument of Romanesque architecture in Italy.
- The Mosta Dome Rotunda in Mosty (Malta) is a beautiful structure that has become famous for its unique domed finish. In 1942, a shell hit the church. Having broken through the dome, he fell at the very altar and did not explode. None of the parishioners were hurt. The dome crowning the rotunda, with a diameter of about 37 meters, is the third largest in Europe in terms of size.
These and many other religious buildings were often erected in the image and likeness of the Roman Pantheon, or in their architectural design they were guided by the view of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Holy Land.
The Jerusalem shrine in its current form is a huge (22 m in diameter) rotunda, inside which there is a cuvuklia. Reliquaries (Zions or Jerusalem) are also made in the form of miniature rotundas, symbolically reproducing this temple.
The Church of the Holy Sepulcher became the prototype for many Christian buildings. And the rotunda, along with the cruciform building and the octagon (regular octagon), took its historical place among the main types of central domed religious buildings.
The love that came to the Russians from the ancient Hellenes and the inhabitants of Byzantium for round ends (domes) and round (from the base) temples was expressed in the creation of buildings that became unique for Russian church architecture. The construction of rotundal churches in Russia began with an experiment to reproduce the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the New Jerusalem Monastery near Moscow (Istra, 1658-1685). The cathedral, built by order of Patriarch Nikon in imitation of the temple in the Holy Land, also had a rotunda crowned with a conical tent.
In the pre-Petrine era, rotundas appeared in Moscow monasteries. Russian architects of the 18th century studied the works of Vitruvius, A. Palladio, Dzh. B. Vignola and others, applied the European experience in cult architecture. But the emergence of cylindrical churches in the central cities was hampered by the difficulty of including them in the grid of neighborhoods (in those days, the rectangular building principle was used). Therefore, round churches began to be erected in small parishes and in private estates. These were hipped-roofed churches, small in size, not designed for crowds of parishioners, located in noble estates. There are more than 50 of them in the Moscow region. The Church of the Nativity of the Virgin, located in the Podmoklovo estate near Serpukhov, is a pearl of Russian church rotundal architecture.
There are less than a dozen such buildings in the vicinity of St. Petersburg. The first round church was designed at the Strelna Palace by Nikolo Michetti. Another Italian architect Pietro Trezzini created a round temple in the Trinity-Sergius Hermitage, reminiscent of a fortress tower. In 1785, in the village of Aleksandrovskoye (which is on the way to Shlisselburg), a rotunda temple appeared in the country estate of the secular nobleman A. A. Vyazemsky. This is the famous Trinity Church, built by the architect N. A. Lvov.
Due to its unusual shape, the Temple in the name of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity is popularly nicknamed Kulich and Easter. The bell tower is made in the form of a four-sided pyramid - this is Easter, and the rotunda played the role of a cake.
In the Old Russian understanding, the circle and the sphere are the image of the Heavenly City. But for the Baroque style, these figures were too simple and uncomplicated and the masters were reluctant to turn to this architectural form. It was only during the reign of Catherine II that rotundal churches were actively erected in Russia. Nicholas I and the "Russian style" that came with him did not favor round buildings, as he was guided by pre-Petrine architecture. Therefore, rotunda temples are unique for Russian architecture and belong to the monuments of cylindrical sacral architecture.
Rotunda in secular architecture
The interpretation of classical examples of architectural heritage affected not only religious buildings, but also secular buildings. During the Renaissance, circular architectural solutions began to be used in the construction of public buildings and private houses, places of rest and entertainment.
Impressed by the Roman Pantheon, the talented Renaissance master Andrea Palladio designed and built the first uncultured building topped with a dome. Villa Capra "La Rotonda" was made in the form of an ancient temple, looked little like a cozy dwelling and was intended for receptions and celebrations.
The initiative of the Italian was taken up by the English and American aristocrats who built luxurious estates for themselves (Merevort Castle, Chiswick House, Monticello, etc.). In the image and likeness of the Villa Capra, the third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, designed not only his own apartments, but also the Capitol. And the main building of the University of Virginia built by him is still called simply the Rotunda.
One of the buildings of the famous Oxofrde Bodleian Library is called a striking example of the Palladian style. Radcliffe Camera is one of the first examples of so-called circular libraries in the world. Several scenes from American films about Sherlock Holmes were filmed near the Radcliffe Rotunda in the 20th century.
There are many examples of public and private domed buildings in a circular layout in modern foreign architecture: the New Zealand Parliament (the so-called Beehive) and the main federal institution of India Samsad Bhavan, the rotunda on Masham Street in London and the office building in Birmingham, the main concert hall of Romania and the Irish theater Gate, Nereworth Castle and Ickworth Residential Building in England, etc.
In Russia, a historical example of a secular rotunda is the current exhibit of the Hermitage, which is considered one of the most expensive in the museum. This is a malachite pavilion, which was presented to Nicholas I as a gift by the Ural industrialist A. Demidov.
Made by the best European craftsmen in Paris, the stone rotunda was supposed to decorate the palace park. But the autocrat used it differently. In the "malachite canopy", covered with a crimson velvet canopy depicting a two-headed eagle, was his royal place during the divine services in the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
The rotunda, which has no direct analogues in architecture, was built in 1845 under the roof of the Mariinsky Palace. This internal structure was erected at the intersection of two main palace enfilades, divided into several tiers and is a continuous colonnade of 32 columns. Recognized as a masterpiece in terms of its unusual architectural design, the Mariinsky is a traditional place for lavish receptions and sumptuous balls.
And the Rotunda of the former Dutch Church, recently opened after restoration (now the Center for Art and Music of the Mayakovsky Library is located here), functions as a concert and exhibition hall.
Residential buildings, decorated with domed circular architectural elements, have survived to this day. For example, one of the symbols of Yekaterinburg is Sevastyanov's house.
During the Soviet period, recreation areas, clubs, restaurants and baths, metro lobbies and sea terminals became round buildings with a domed roof and cylindrical structures. In parks and on embankments, multi-petal rotundas appear (the architectural term "octaconhi").
The legendary building in St. Petersburg, known as the House on Gorokhovaya, has stepped from the era of classicism to the present. It looks like an inconspicuous building, typical for the city of the late 18th century, formerly called the house of Yakovlev-Dementyev. The secret is in the inner circular building with six columns and curved staircases.
Rotunda on Gorokhovaya is credited with mystical properties, it literally "overgrown" with myths and legends about the connection with the other world. And in the 70s and 80s of the last century, which saw a boom in the youth movement of informals, the building became a cult place.
Monuments - rotundas
The era of modernism, with its adherence to strict plans, borrowed from antiquity the rotunda, like a pantheon or a chapel. In our country, some historical monuments are made in the form of a rotunda.
As a reminder of the grief and suffering that war brings, in Voronezh, the rotunda of the hospital building, destroyed during shelling in 1942, has been preserved in ruins
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In honor of the soldiers-internationalists who died in the line of duty, in 2000 in Dubna, near Moscow, a memorial sign "Rotunda" was erected.
Commemorative sign -
In commemoration of the naval victories won by the USSR in the Great Patriotic War, a gazebo made in the form of a rotunda was erected in the Primorsky Park (which is on the Krestovsky Island of St. Petersburg). It amazes with its simplicity and laconism - a large spherical dome on eight rectangular columns and a round bench in the center. A small neat gazebo by the Swan Pond is a popular place for romantic meetings and quiet secluded relaxation.
Gazebo on the Swan Pond -
An unusual literary monument - the fountain-rotunda "Natalia and Alexander" - was opened in Moscow in the year of the celebration of the bicentennial of A. S. Pushkin. The place of installation (near the Nikitsky Gate) was not chosen by chance. Not far from here is the Church of the Great Ascension, where the lovers got married, as well as the mansion of the Goncharov family.
Rotunda fountain Inside the gazebo are the figures of the poet reading his work to his beloved and young Natalie, who heeds his words. The Natalia and Alexander fountain is unique in that you can drink water from it. There is a belief that couples who do this will live happily ever after in mutual understanding and great love.
Rotunda as an element of landscape architecture
A special type of cylindrical construction is a gazebo. This is a rotunda in the form of columns standing in a circle, connected by a low dome in the form of a roof. The gaps between the columns can be filled with a balustrade, and the interior space allows for radius benches. Such a structure is associated with silence, solitude and tranquility.
In the era of romanticism, the meaning of the gazebo was to hide passionate kisses and ardent declarations of love from prying eyes. The columns of romantic dating pavilions were covered with ivy and decorated with flowers. Among the nobility, the rotunda was considered a favorite resting place and was an integral part of the 18th century manor. Garden pavilions were set up in high places, allowing them to observe the surroundings. Later, they acquired the appearance of guest houses, the openwork designs of which made it possible to demonstrate the guests' outfits in all their glory.
The two-tiered Milovida rotunda in Marfino near Moscow stands not far from the music pavilion on a steep hillside before descending to the large lower pond. This is one of the well-preserved examples of manor garden and park architecture.
A gazebo today is an indispensable element of a summer cottage or a country house. Also, light and elegant circular designs are used as an attribute in the organization of off-site solemn weddings.
Rotunda is present in recreation areas.
As an example of an architectural remake - a gazebo for meditation.
There is even a Rotunda art object. It is located in an interesting place called Nikola Lenivets. In the Kaluga region, not far from the town of Maloyaroslavets, there is a one-of-a-kind art park with landscape installations.
The Majestic Rotunda, which came from antiquity, has consolidated its position in many areas of modern life. Whatever ideas are guided by the architects who use the rotundal form in architecture, we can only admire their skill and admire the ideal forms of a circle and a sphere, embodied in wood or stone, concrete or metal.
