Church of St George Rotunda

The Church of St George, known as the Rotunda, stands in the courtyard enclosed by the Presidency, the TSUM department store and the Sheraton Sofia Hotel Balkan at Sveta Nedelya Square in central Sofia, Bulgaria. Dating from the 4th century CE, when Serdica was an important Roman city, it is considered the oldest preserved building in the Bulgarian capital. The structure is a round brick building with a high dome, originally part of the Roman city's official complex and possibly a bath or ceremonial hall before conversion to a church. Its thick brick walls, alternating with stone courses, are typical of Late Roman construction. Inside, the dome carries medieval frescoes in several layers. The best-known layer, from the 14th century, includes figures of 22 prophets, while earlier fresco layers have been uncovered beneath it, among them scenes from the 10th and 12th centuries. During the Ottoman period the building served as a mosque, and its frescoes were plastered over, which helped preserve them until restoration work in the 20th century. Around the church, excavated Roman ruins, including streets, bath foundations and fragments of the ancient city, are displayed in the courtyard, making it a small open-air archaeological site. Architecturally the Rotunda is a domed centralised building with a modest interior, simple apses and a narthex. Restoration work, intermittent since the early 20th century, has stabilised the walls and cleaned the frescoes, and the church is again used for worship, so visitors are expected to respect services. Its setting, hidden behind modern buildings, makes it a quiet contrast to the city's central squares.