Salonica - St George's Church / Rotunda

(Local Name: Áyios Yeóryios) From the Arch of Galerius a colonnaded street originally ran north for some 100m/110yd to the Rotunda, which is believed to have been built as a Pantheon or a mausoleum for Galerius (though he was not buried here) and is now known as St George's Church (Áyios Yeóryios). This circular structure with thick, inward-corbelled walls and an interior diameter of 24m/80ft, preserves the remains of fine mosaics in the dome and the vaulted recesses round the walls (one of which was later extended to form the choir of the church). The mosaic in the center of the dome is missing, but below it can be seen the figures of angels, and below these again architectural façades on a gold ground.

On the west side of the building is a minaret, badly damaged but still standing - a relic of the time when the church was converted into a mosque (the Hortaci Suleiman Effendi Camii).

The Rotunda is now open to the public as a museum (lapidarium).